NORTH SLOPE FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE REGIONAL ADVISORY …35 36 MR. EVANS: Thank you, Mr. Chair, 37 members of the Council. So last night I drafted a -- 38 based on the comments that you

NORTH SLOPE SUBSISTENCE RAC MEETING 2

4/4/2019 NORTH SLOPE RAC MEETING

Computer Matrix, LLC 135 Christensen Dr., Ste. 2., Anch. AK 99501

Phone: 907-243-0668 Fax: 907-243-1473 Email: [email protected]

NORTH SLOPE FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE REGIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

PUBLIC MEETING

VOLUME II

Inupiat Heritage Center Utqiagvik, Alaska April 4, 2019

9:00 a.m.

COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:

Gordon Brower, Chair William Hopson Esther S. Hugo Martha Itta Wanda T. Kippi Steve Oomittuk Tad Reich Edward Rexford

Regional Council Coordinator, Eva Patton

Recorded and transcribed by:

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:907-243-0668/[email protected]





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1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 3 (Utqiagvik, Alaska - 4/04/2019) 4 5 (On record) 6 7 MS. PATTON: Good morning everyone on 8 teleconference. We're just gathering our Council here 9 so we'll reconvene the meeting this morning. And we'll

10 do welcome and introductions again for those on 11 teleconference and anyone new who's joined us. 12 13 We'll begin shortly. 14 15 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Good morning, Council 16 members. Good morning, everyone. We're going to 17 reconvene and I think it's important maybe to 18 reestablish quorum on the second day, right, so I'm 19 going to ask the secretary to do a roll call and get an 20 official quorum stated and go about our business. 21 22 Madam Secretary. 23 24 MS. KIPPI: Thank you, Gordon. 25 26 Good morning, everybody. 27 28 MR. OOMITTUK: Good morning. 29 30 MS. KIPPI: Gordon Brower, Utqiagvik. 31 32 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Good morning. 33 34 (In Inupiaq) 35 36 MS. KIPPI: Wanda Kippi, here, from 37 Atqasuk. 38 39 Steve Oomittuk, Point Hope. 40 41 MR. OOMITTUK: Here. 42 43 MS. KIPPI: Edward Rexford, Kaktovik. 44 45 MR. REXFORD: Here. 46 47 MS. KIPPI: Martha Itta, Nuiqsut. 48 49 MS. ITTA: Here. 50




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1 MS. KIPPI: Tad Reich, Utqiagvik. 2 3 MR. REICH: Here. 4 5 MS. KIPPI: William Hopson, Utqiagvik. 6 7 MR. HOPSON: Here. 8 9 MS. KIPPI: Mr. Chair, I believe we

10 have a quorum. 11 12 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Madame 13 Secretary. We'll..... 14 15 MS. KIPPI: You're welcome. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: At this point I'm 18 going to ask those that are online if you could 19 introduce yourselves this morning. 20 21 MR. JOLLY: Good morning, Mr. Chairman. 22 Kyle Jolly from National Park Service. 23 24 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Morning, Kyle. 25 26 MR. BURCH: Good morning. This is Mark 27 Burch from the Department of Fish and Game. 28 29 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Morning, Mark. 30 31 MS. OKADA: Good morning. This is 32 Marcy Okada, subsistence coordinator for Gates of the 33 Arctic National Park and Preserve. 34 35 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Good morning, Marcy. 36 All right. We'll acknowledge those that haven't -- as 37 they dial we'll have them acknowledge themselves. 38 39 With that, we've established quorum and 40 we're going to go about the rest of the agency reports. 41 And I don't know exactly in what order of business 42 we're going to do that because I think we've put a 43 couple other things ahead of others yesterday because 44 of expediency I think. 45 46 And I'm going to look to Madame 47 Coordinator assist in what's the next item. I'm kind 48 of thinking it's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 49 there I think because I got a couple of little




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1 checkmarks and those two are not met yet. 2 3 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, we 4 did want to revisit the Council's discussion on the 5 closure review. 6 7 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Oh. 8 9 MS. PATTON: So that the Council can

10 review that language and make a formal motion on the 11 record for that closure review. So that would be the 12 first order of business this morning. And then we'll 13 resume again with agency reports. 14 15 Martha Itta did inform me this morning 16 that she has an emergency in her community she needs to 17 attend to by lunch time. And so we were hoping if we 18 could address the BLM NPRA report as the next agency 19 report to make sure that there's an opportunity 20 for..... 21 22 CHAIRMAN BROWER: That makes a lot of 23 sense, you know, and..... 24 25 MS. PATTON: Okay. 26 27 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....we'll do that. 28 With that, Madame Chair and Council, I'm going to ask 29 Tom Evans to -- I'm pretty sure they reconstituted the 30 language on the closure that we were working on and 31 deliberated kind of extensively I think a little bit. 32 And let's see where you're at with that. 33 34 Tom. 35 36 MR. EVANS: Thank you, Mr. Chair, 37 members of the Council. So last night I drafted a -- 38 based on the comments that you guys said yesterday I 39 drafted up a statement from the Council, what it would 40 be. So I did it on Eva's computer so I'll have her 41 read it. And then you guys can see if we captured what 42 you wanted and any changes you would like to make and 43 we'll go from there. 44 45 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And, you know, 46 sometimes I always read when a closure goes in place 47 and OSM doesn't support. So what are you guys are -- 48 say sometimes and how important it is for the 49 communities to have staff support and not write in




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1 opposition to the position of the Council is important 2 too. Because I think we make a lot of sense. And then 3 I want to make sure. If I was reviewing this and I'm 4 obligated by my own laws to give deference to the 5 communities, I think you're under the same gun. You 6 have to give deference to the communities that depend 7 on these resources. 8 9 Just want to add that as a stern

10 position of the Council. 11 12 With that..... 13 14 MR. EVANS: Well, I hope I captured 15 what you guys talked about yesterday. So we'll see 16 here. 17 18 CHAIRMAN BROWER: With that, Eva. 19 20 MS. PATTON: Okay. Thank you, Mr. 21 Chair and Council. So this was a summary of the 22 discussion yesterday and an opportunity to, you know, 23 correct anything that the Council feels should be 24 changed. And in particular be good to get feedback 25 from Edward Rexford from Kaktovik on the community's 26 wishes. So this was the North Slope Regional Advisory 27 Council discussion on the closure review for unit 26C 28 and B remainder, moose. 29 30 So the Council supports the wildlife 31 closure review 18-31 to maintain the closure with the 32 following modification. To establish a harvest limit 33 of one bull moose by Federal registration permit for 34 unit 26B remainder and four bull moose for unit 26C for 35 Kaktovik residents only. The Arctic National Wildlife 36 Refuge in consultation with ADF&G biologists and Chair 37 of the North Slope Advisory Council will set the 38 opening and closing dates as needed, set the annual 39 harvest quotas and limits. 40 41 Federal public lands are closed to the 42 taking of moose except by a Kaktovik resident holding a 43 Federal registration permit and hunting under these 44 regulations. 45 46 In the Council's discussion and the 47 justification was that currently the subsistence needs 48 of Kaktovik are not being met and it's estimated that 49 the residents of Kaktovik need 30 to 50 moose annually.




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1 This was -- I know you were speaking, 2 Gordon, and so we would want to hear, you know, from 3 Kaktovik what -- I'm trying to convey the community's 4 needs there. If there's any change..... 5 6 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Right. And that was 7 an arbitrary number that I put out there..... 8 9 MS. PATTON: Right.

10 11 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....just as an 12 example, what's not being..... 13 14 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 15 16 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....discussed is the 17 annual need of the..... 18 19 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 20 21 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....community in 22 relationship to what we're trying to talk about. 23 24 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 25 26 CHAIRMAN BROWER: With some of the 27 fears that I listened from Beth Leonard about using 200 28 as a threshold level..... 29 30 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 31 32 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....to start limited 33 hunts, not just subsistence hunt, but limited hunt that 34 are non-rural in nature and that scares me. It 35 frightens me because we've been fighting for one moose 36 for -- for a community of 300. And that to me is 37 important to note. 38 39 Anyway, I mean, if you start to mention 40 a few of these things they kind of invoke my heart..... 41 42 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....the wrongness of 45 some of these approaches. 46 47 MS. PATTON: And, Mr. Chair and 48 Counsel, and what we can do is convey this -- you know, 49 what the needs are of the community. As you say those




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1 numbers were a reference to try to get at that. There 2 is an opportunity, we can, you know, follow-up with 3 Kaktovik if -- you know, if the community has kind of a 4 number that you feel would meet those community needs. 5 But I think the point you're making is to convey that 6 the needs are not being met? 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Right. I mean, it 9 might lead to a actual harvest needs assessment.....

10 11 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 12 13 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....that somebody's 14 going to have to be paid to find out what the harvest 15 real need assessment is for that community. And until 16 those are met in a sustainable principal management 17 style then a limited hunt to other parties should be 18 entertained only. And I think that threshold level's 19 going to not be 200. I think you're going to be 20 talking about 1,500 moose population to allow for 21 additional other types of hunts because, you know, food 22 security is talked about everywhere, ICC and other 23 areas. And it's important, it's important, very 24 important and it shouldn't be under estimated, under 25 valued and under talked about, it should be highly 26 emphasized. 27 28 Okay. 29 30 Go ahead. 31 32 We'll try not to interrupt you. 33 34 MS. PATTON: No, this is good. This is 35 the feedback that we need because we want to make sure 36 we capture what the intent is there. 37 38 So that's very helpful and..... 39 40 MR. REXFORD: So could I say something? 41 42 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Kaktovik. 43 44 MR. REXFORD: I'd have to report back 45 to the tribal council to see what level for the -- the 46 quota level would be comfortable for our community. In 47 the past I think the highest quota we ever got, I don't 48 know if it was for one year or two years, but they 49 tried to have us harvest 10 moose one time and nobody




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1 was successful in harvesting that many moose, but, you 2 know, I think something like that could be looked into 3 instead of, you know, one or two moose which would 4 really help the community. 5 6 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Maybe..... 7 8 MR REXFORD: Thank you. 9

10 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....I just want 11 to..... 12 13 MS. PATTON: Thank you. 14 15 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....elaborate just a 16 little bit more because it's real easy to -- we need to 17 discern something here, we need to know the difference 18 of what the community's needs are versus the emergency 19 management and management of the exact population there 20 is and what take level we should take to keep a 21 sustained yield principle. They're two distinct 22 different items because 300 people, you know, we're not 23 going to take 300 moose, it's a big animal, I mean, it 24 can feed a lot of families. I'm thinking 300 people in 25 Kaktovik probably could consume 30 moose as an annual 26 harvest should that many be available. And there was 27 -- that would be subsistence needs are met. On top of 28 that you're going to -- your subsistence needs if 29 bowhead whale, is what, about four? 30 31 MR. REXFORD: Three, four, yeah. 32 33 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, three or four 34 because one animal will feed a thousand people just 35 about. Easy. And so there's a -- depending on the 36 food resource. Caribou, you know, if we had to fight 37 for the amount of caribou and there are harvest 38 assessment for villages because the State will 39 calculate the amount necessary for subsistence, an ANS, 40 derived from the population. All the communities that 41 harvest caribou in the path of the Western Arctic herd 42 is about 38 communities, either side of the Brooks 43 Range. Every community may -- I think they -- some of 44 them say like Barrow we need -- we need 800 (in 45 Inupiaq), Wainwright probably 500 (in Inupiaq). And 46 then they -- they coalesce all this -- these numbers in 47 the wake of its movement and come up with a number. 48 49 A subsistence ANS of the Western Arctic




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1 herd derived from the population estimated is 15,000 or 2 something. Fifteen thousand animals for all these 3 villages to be fed properly from the Western Arctic 4 herd. When you come up with that ANS then you see if 5 the herd can sustain that and anything more than that 6 then you might have a small allocation or a hunt that 7 the rest of the State can enjoy, right. That's 8 sustained yield principle. That's what I'm talking 9 about when we're saying because there's 94 over here

10 and 25 over here, there's about 112 to play with right 11 now. All the while the subsistence in my own way of 12 thinking and the Fed shouldn't use ANS, but the State 13 does, that there's an ANS for the village of Kaktovik 14 for moose. The amount necessary for subsistence. It's 15 a tool, it's merely a tool to manage a herd. 16 17 So the community's ANS for moose, if it 18 had 20,000 moose and then you were able to have a 19 liberal hunting management scheme that ANS would be 20 met. They might not get all of them all the -- every 21 year, but that ANS would stand. It would say that the 22 -- in order to meet the subsistence needs of Kaktovik 23 they require 30 moose. It's just an arbitrary number 24 I'm just putting out there right now. And when that 25 moose population is 1,200 they should be able to 26 harvest 30 moose. And if that 30 moose is met and then 27 the 1,200 can do a sustained yield and recruitment rate 28 is good enough there should be a little bit of 29 harvestable surplus to allow for a limited hunt. It 30 might be that out of 1,200 you go 30 moose for the 31 village, they need that, that's cut and dry, but an 32 additional five moose might be by permit to non- 33 residents or non-rural residents. 34 35 That's what I'm trying to get at. We 36 need to discern two different things here. One is the 37 ANS for the community, I don't really like to use that 38 because we argued over it over many years about an ANS 39 because that's a State derived methodology. But 40 there's an ANS for moose for that community should be 41 always calculated based on population and consumption. 42 They might never ever get to harvest 30 moose in one 43 year, but that's the -- that's what their needs are. 44 Just like their slides on this population quota system 45 for bullhead whales is three or four. And that is 46 established. 47 48 So that's all I'm trying to say, we 49 need to discern what we can do a sustained yield out of




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1 this 112 with 94 over here if the remainder there's 25. 2 And what is a sustained yield principle for that, it 3 might be four. I think we can manage to get four bulls 4 out of 112 moose, you know. But if there's 1,200 that 5 -- it still needs to work that numbers in until you're 6 able to sustain the community harvest level need. Two 7 different things. 8 9 Okay. I'm -- I just want to make sure

10 there's a good understanding here because I -- I'm a 11 hunter and I listen how these biologists work numbers, 12 we look -- we're very keen on making sure they do a 13 proper census. And I'd like to see them do the kind of 14 census that they're doing on the Western Arctic herd 15 with this digital technology, they can -- they can see 16 them even in the willows when you can't see them from 17 the air, you know, that kind of stuff. 18 19 Anyway -- okay. I've - I'm going to go 20 far too long, but I really want to make sure this -- 21 the Council understand what the harvest needs are 22 versus the sustained yield principle of only 112 moose 23 in these two areas. 24 25 MR. HOPSON: Yeah, go ahead, William, 26 from Utqiagvik. 27 28 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 29 If I may I just want to bring out a couple things. So 30 far I like the way it was written, your first paragraph 31 I can -- we're out and we still have to see the rest. 32 33 But I think there's a couple things -- 34 maybe one thing that's missing in this equation and I 35 mentioned it last night. And before determining the 36 amount I think we really need to rely on some real time 37 estimates in the summer and winter. In summer when 38 there's forest fires, oh, my gosh we get a lot of moose 39 move up to the North Slope during those times. And 40 that population adds in the summertime when they do 41 that. That needs to be part of the equation. 42 43 Those are the two things I wanted to 44 mention, real time estimates and at least get an idea 45 of how many are moving up to the -- migrating up to the 46 North Slope in the summer and add those numbers on to 47 the current estimate that they are using. 48 49 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Those are good 2 points. And, you know, I'm going to defer a lot in 3 this particular closure to Kaktovik, but I think making 4 sure we all understand sustained yield principle and 5 some of the things that probably -- I don't even know 6 if there is a harvest assessment for Kaktovik and their 7 subsistence needs on this particular species for that 8 community. And that's how come I just pull out 9 arbitrary numbers out of a hat thinking 300 people,

10 yeah, you can -- probably 30 moose would help -- it 11 could easily consume 30 moose in a community. 12 13 And then there's sharing and 14 traditional trade practices that happen as well 15 because, you know, I get moose and other things from 16 other parts of the North Slope by supplementing them 17 with my fish and doing trade like that. That's the 18 other part is the traditional trade activities, you 19 shouldn't just look at that as a single thing, it's the 20 subsistence economies that like I said I could trade a 21 couple sacks of (in Inupiaq) for five bearded seal 22 skins and skin my boat. And that's the traditional 23 trade practices that we are used to and grew up with. 24 25 Anyway, we -- man, this stuff invokes a 26 lot of passion from folks, I'll tell you that much. 27 28 Eva. 29 30 MS. PATTON: Thank you, Mr. Chair and 31 Council. And just to clarify because we're talking 32 both the Federal side and the State side and so this 33 first -- the motion the Council's making here is on the 34 Federal subsistence closure. 35 36 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah. 37 38 MS. PATTON: And so you're correct, the 39 Federal subsistence program does not deal with ANS, we 40 provide subsistence opportunity. And so there isn't 41 the number that's put with that subsistence 42 opportunity, it has always striven to provide the 43 opportunity that's needed expressed by the community. 44 And the numbers are low because of the population. And 45 as you stated they're -- part of this process is the 46 analysis based on, you know, the data. And so 47 that.....




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we will -- we will add this language in the discussion



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1 thing, Eva. We -- right. We don't subscribe to the 2 ANS in the Federal scheme of things, right, it's a tool 3 that the State uses and we've learned about it quite a 4 bit because they use it and had brought it up in front 5 of the Federal Council on caribou management and other 6 resources. But don't under estimate the term that you 7 say we provide the opportunity. It's not that we're 8 providing the opportunity, we are working towards 9 meeting the needs. We are working towards meeting the

10 needs of the community and there should be an actual 11 harvest estimate for each community on these species. 12 What does it take to sustain normal subsistence needs 13 of that community on a species. And that should always 14 be the target, not say we're going to provide you the 15 opportunity of five while we're going to give three 16 permits to Jim Shockey and his group. No way. Those 17 are millionaires. ANWR is a millionaire's playground. 18 It's a millionaire's playground. But it is our 19 ancestral home for Kaktovik. 20 21 It's meeting the subsistence needs, 22 it's not providing the opportunity. And that's 23 something I want to make sure we get away from saying 24 we're going to provide you the opportunity. You're not 25 going to provide us the opportunity. If you said no 26 all the time we're going to start to become like the 27 old times and say well, you're going to have to arrest 28 us because we're hungry. Take all to court, we're very 29 hungry, we got children and we've about had it up to 30 here with these type of regulations. It's important to 31 meet the needs of the community. I think -- I want a 32 sustained yield principle type stuff, harvest 33 assessments for species for communities and then you 34 try to meet that harvest assessment need before you 35 allocate to other users. That's the law I think in my 36 books, rural subsistence priority by the Federal 37 managers. 38 39 Thank you. 40 41 Again I apologize, I don't want to 42 scare anybody off with this rhetoric, but I think it is 43 the proper thing to say. It is the proper things to 44 say. 45 46 Go ahead, Eva. 47 48 MS. PATTON: Thank you, Mr. Chair. So




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closing dates and set an annual harvest quota and



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1 here because the justification is, you know, expressing 2 these concerns and the language of the Council. So 3 we'll add that to the closure review. And again this 4 comes back before the Council with the analysis so 5 there'll be an opportunity to review that again and 6 before we submit it we'll make sure the final language 7 is as the Council wanted. 8 9 So we had just gotten to the discussion

10 with Kaktovik and feedback from Kaktovik just generally 11 about the community's needs and we can add more 12 specific detail if the Council wishes or Kaktovik 13 wishes or we can keep it as that request for meeting 14 the community needs and stressing that, whatever those 15 community needs are. 16 17 There was discussion yesterday that in 18 2017 and 2018 Edward Rexford had mentioned the Arctic 19 National Wildlife Manager opened an April hunt up for 20 three bull moose in the Kongakut River in unit 26C. 21 However Edward had expressed the Kongakut River 22 drainage is a long way from Kaktovik and in April the 23 moose tend to be very skinny in the spring. And 24 Kaktovik residents would like to be able to take a bull 25 moose anytime of year especially when they occur at 26 locations closer to Kaktovik. 27 28 Currently the moose season is closed in 29 unit 26B and C under State regulations. If the State 30 opens a moose season in unit 26B remainder and 26C the 31 Council would recommend aligning State and Federal 32 regulations to make it easier for Federally-qualified 33 users. 34 35 So that was capturing the language as 36 you were saying there that -- to keep it closed to only 37 -- open to only Federally-qualified user unless that 38 subsistence need is met. 39 40 And again the Council has supported to 41 maintain the closure in unit -- the Federal subsistence 42 close in unit 26C and unit 26B remainder. And had 43 separated out those harvests so there's one bull moose 44 by Federal registration permit for 26B remainder and 45 four bull moose for unit 26C for Kaktovik residents 46 only. And then the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 47 consultation with the biologists and North Slope 48 Regional Advisory Council would set those open and




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able to capture some of that flexibility. So we can



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1 limit. So it would still provide season flexibility in 2 conjunction with the Arctic Refuge manager. 3 4 So that would maintain the closure with 5 the modification to change those harvest limits and 6 open season dates. 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Boy, that almost 9 sounds really good, you know. But the other part is

10 making sure the subsistence harvest assessment 11 language. I would like to see that in this that an 12 actual harvest assessment need -- a needs assessment 13 for Kaktovik be established as the base for all these 14 resources and to manage that sustained yield principle. 15 Because a lot of times and I -- I probably been here -- 16 I've been here almost since the beginning. I think 17 Harry Brower being the one that was since its inception 18 in I think '94 or '96. And I was '98 or '97. 19 20 All those years we've argued about this 21 -- the moose needs in this area. We're always dealing 22 with an extreme low number, doesn't get any higher and 23 get any lower, it gets 50 more and then 50 decline and 24 it's that way in that area and we need to recognize 25 that. 26 27 And in any event it's always been a 28 contentious issue. Why do they have to be so severely 29 limited in ANWR. It's a Refuge, it's not a -- a Refuge 30 for the community knowing that their animals are right 31 there, they're not going to -- they shouldn't be -- 32 they should be relying on it. Kaktovik's Refuge for 33 their resources, it's their back yard. It's their 34 Walmart, it's their McDonald's. And we need to see it 35 that way. 36 37 But the harvest needs assessment we'd 38 be remiss to include that in here so that that language 39 that they're -- we need to look at meeting the needs of 40 communities in these allocation of resources. 41 42 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, 43 thank you. And so we would add to the Council's 44 discussion and the justification on this and the 45 request that there's a request for a subsistence 46 harvest estimate for the community of Kaktovik to be 47 conducted. And then we had a request also for 48 additional moose surveys and additional seasons to be




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She should be able to go to the Refuge manager and the



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1 add those two requests to this..... 2 3 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Eva. 4 5 MS. PATTON: ..... to the Council's 6 comments. 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I think Vince had his 9 hand up. Is that Vince?

10 11 MR. MATHEWS: Yes. 12 13 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. 14 15 MR. MATHEWS: Just some minor things so 16 it gets accurate. This is Vince Mathews, Refuge 17 subsistence specialist for Arctic, Kanuti and Yukon 18 Flats. 19 20 The three moose are issue now in 2019. 21 I think you said '17, '18. Tom's chart is accurate on 22 the permits over time. 23 24 And then just to get it clear are you 25 asking to modify when the Refuge manager needs to 26 consult on the season, are you modifying his current 27 letter of authority to be what she said wherein here it 28 says consult with the Alaska Department of Fish and 29 Game managers, BLM, et cetera. So I think -- I think 30 you want to keep it as the consultation is -- who they 31 should contact as it is. But..... 32 33 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Are you suggesting 34 we're -- the language is now starting to get 35 complicated to where your -- that dialogue is going to 36 be three prong across jurisdictions? 37 38 MR. MATHEWS: No, what I'm -- what I'm 39 getting at is what was announced was that the Refuge 40 manager would contact the Regional Advisory Council to 41 set the seasons and that. And right now the -- he's 42 supposed to contact Fish and Game, the National Park 43 Service, et cetera, et cetera. 44 45 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Right. And I think 46 that the community from what I'm hearing and Eddie can 47 attest to that because he's here, is that there should 48 be much more flexibility in timing of that harvest.




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through the delegation of authority because that is



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1 availability of those resources and if they want to do 2 a fall hunt that is when they're at their prime, their 3 best. Like I love to hunt when they're at their prime. 4 The most meat, the most fat, the juiciest steaks, you 5 know, that's when I want them. I don't want them when 6 they have endured winter already and starting around 7 March and those periods that's at the extreme of their 8 survival factor. They've consumed their fat trying to 9 survive the extreme conditions and getting ready to go

10 into the summer and spring and the fall and they get 11 fattened up and the best meat on earth at that point. 12 13 I think that's what I'm hearing, that 14 there should be flexibility and they shouldn't have to 15 go a hundred miles. They should be able to just go at 16 the beach if it's there and take it and it's a bull 17 moose. And that's -- that's what I'm hearing because 18 it's already seriously difficult. There's -- you can't 19 use four-wheelers like you could do out here, maybe 20 just along the coast if any. And basically they can 21 just get up on top of a river and park and then if it's 22 a mile that way they got to carry that by foot all the 23 way back to a river boat and probably cut it up in 20 24 pieces because, you know, a hindquarter is probably 500 25 pounds or so, who knows. 26 27 I mean, that's what I'm hearing. And 28 if there's better language to accommodate this and make 29 it simple I think they're all for that. And we don't 30 need to make it complicated. So you might want to 31 suggest some language that's going to help facilitate 32 this. 33 34 Eva. 35 36 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, and 37 I think it was just in the way our notes were written 38 here. So there is a -- with the delegation of 39 authority letter there is a process for how the Refuge 40 manager consults with the biologists and the other 41 agencies in the region. It is also part of the process 42 for the Council to be notified through the delegation 43 of authority, that's part of the process is to notify 44 the Council. So I think it was just in how we had it 45 written here that maybe didn't convey it very clearly. 46 47 So my understanding was the Council's 48 intent was to maintain working with the Refuge manager




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highly regulated Refuge area where you can't even use



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1 what provides flexibility for the Refuge to work 2 directly with the community and consult with the 3 community. If it goes into regulation without that 4 delegation of authority letter then it becomes a rigid 5 season and date. So it is the -- it is that delegation 6 of authority with the Refuge manager and their 7 relationship with the community that provides that 8 flexibility. 9

10 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I think that's 11 important to note. If we get outside and distinguish 12 the delegation of authority would be a hard wired 13 regulation to where -- I know there's a little bit of 14 concern about delegating that with the Refuge manager. 15 Seems like there's a little bit of friction. I'm not 16 exactly sure and where that's coming from, but that's 17 the risk is you're going to hard wired regulation 18 versus the flexibility of work with the community. 19 20 The other thing I want to put a 21 justification need is the cost of doing things. I 22 mean, I've heard in Anaktuvuk Pass families having to 23 pool resources together. This uncle, nephew, aunt, put 24 their money together and put their faith in their best 25 hunter and set out for two or three weeks to get the 26 best harvesting they could. Because the cost of 27 subsistence, can you imagine in a community like 28 Anaktuvuk where there's 380 people, there's 60 jobs 29 overall in the community maybe at the most. The 30 village corporation doesn't have a economic engine 31 other than the North Slope Borough doing various things 32 or the school district. About 75 percent of the 33 community is either 100 percent or subsidized by those 34 that are working of the 25 percent to depend on 35 subsistence resources. That's the reality, not -- you 36 have to recognize the subsistence economy thoroughly 37 and the needs. Our (indiscernible), their village 38 corporation defuncts every few years because they don't 39 have opportunities. I was working with a comprehensive 40 plan for the community while their village corporation 41 was in a dormant state because there's no jobs, there's 42 no opportunities. That's what we're dealing with. 43 Just because there's an oil and gas industry doesn't 44 mean that every community has the opportunities. 45 46 It's important that we provide the most 47 successful path to meet the community's needs. The 48 most successful path and the easiest way especially in




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1 motorized vehicles on the tundra. I mean, if I lived 2 there I think I would have a dog team and everything 3 else so I can do anything I want like the old days, you 4 know. But we're not going to go backwards and we're 5 not going to take up the club, right, we're not cavemen 6 anymore. So some justification on the scale of 7 economies, the cost of doing things and recognizing 8 there are families that have to pool resources together 9 and need to be successful. You may not have those

10 resources to go a second time. If you're not 11 successful you may not have those monies again to be 12 successful and do another attempt in these villages. 13 That's another thing you need to think about. I've 14 heard it many times from Anaktuvuk, they need to be 15 successful. 16 17 You can have guides in front of these 18 things in the village area of influence where they're 19 expecting these resources and they divert herds, 20 thousands of animals diverted out of the reasonable 21 subsistence use access for communities. And then you 22 invoke an argument. Instead of passing down 23 traditional knowledge you pass on arguments that way. 24 And then the next generation becomes argumentative and 25 so on and so forth. And then the traditional knowledge 26 becomes an argument. 27 28 Okay. 29 30 That's a -- that's another 31 justification of these things that should be 32 recognized. 33 34 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman. 35 36 CHAIRMAN BROWER: William. 37 38 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 39 You bring out so many good point on the justification 40 part. 41 42 I wanted to say this a little earlier 43 when I first spoke, but when you were talking about 44 sports hunters and Gordon brought out a lot of good 45 justification points. I just wanted to bring out, 46 maybe think about it, I've heard it done before, but 47 what I would like to see in the future is open the 48 season for subsistence use only and once those are met 49 then open it for sports hunters. That makes a lot of




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1 sense right there. And I believe every word Gordon 2 says because there is no economy. I travel the seven 3 villages for 40 years, used to do them once a month, 4 every village. And the need. I see young people with 5 five children, they're flipping a coin, are we going to 6 heat our house this week or should we go buy gas so we 7 can -- you know. Those things are so hard to look at 8 and we don't want to see those. 9

10 So anyway I just wanted to bring that 11 out, to open it for subsistence use only and then 12 whatever that remainder is, open it after the 13 subsistence take has been done. 14 15 Thank you, Mr Chairman. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: (In Inupiaq) 18 19 MR. OOMITTUK: Mr. Chair. 20 21 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 22 Steve, from Tikigaq. 23 24 MR. OOMITTUK: You know, as a Board, 25 you know, we're here to meet the needs of our people 26 and to ensure that they -- you know, that they get the 27 harvest that is needed before. You know, that's why we 28 had a closure unit 23 when the population of the 29 caribou dropped. You know, we caved on all hunting to 30 non-residents and sports hunters on Federal lands so we 31 could have -- meet the needs of the people first. You 32 know, the population of the caribou dropped drastically 33 by more than half. You know, here we're here to 34 support Barter Island as a whole region, you know. We 35 have to meet the needs of the people before we even 36 open it up to non-residents. And it was hard even 37 though, you know, non-residents were our own people 38 that lived elsewhere. But, you know, we have to meet 39 the needs of people that -- the people that live in 40 these communities. You know, like you say, you know, 41 the high cost of living, you know, the high cost of 42 gas. You know, employment is real low. 43 44 So, you know. as a Board we are here to 45 ensure that our communities, you know -- you know, are 46 number 1 priority. You know, they got to put food on 47 the table. You know, and if proposals come before us 48 we need the paperwork in front of us so we can look at 49 it because we keep going off else where and then, you




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1 know, what we -- I want to see this, you know, want it 2 in front of me, I want to see the paperwork so that if 3 we -- you know, if we want to amend it or change things 4 that we have it right in front of us so that we can 5 understand. You know, we need to see the paperwork so 6 we can better understand it and, you know, make it as 7 simple as possible, you know. You know, when you're 8 reading it on a computer, you know, and then we go off 9 to another subject, you know, we -- you know, we get

10 carried away and go elsewhere, but it would be good, 11 you know, to have it right here in front so we can look 12 at it also. And if we feel that we need to make 13 changes then we can amend it. 14 15 Thank you. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. It sounds 18 like there's a little bit more to do maybe, right, or 19 have you captured it and -- to where..... 20 21 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, I 22 think what we can do is because your justification and 23 discussion on the Council's motion that will be 24 captured in full, the Council can make a motion on the 25 primary part of this. And for the discussion and 26 justification that will go to the Federal Subsistence 27 Board we will incorporate everything that was discussed 28 here today. And it'll come back to you for your review 29 prior to it going to the Federal Subsistence Board. So 30 you'll get a chance to review that dialogue and 31 discussion to make sure that we captured everything 32 that the Council wants to convey. 33 34 The important thing is that we capture, 35 you know, the Council's intent for this and make a 36 motion and vote on that motion. And I think because 37 the Council wanted to make this recommendation both on 38 this Federal subsistence closure review and then submit 39 that same language to the State for Board of Game. And 40 so we can first make a motion on the Federal closure 41 review and then..... 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Okay. 44 45 MS. PATTON: .....the Council can make 46 a motion to say we want to submit..... 47 48 CHAIRMAN BROWER: So..... 49




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1 MS. PATTON: .....the same language to 2 the State. 3 4 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I know you're 5 repeating yourself now, but that's great. It's very 6 good, but I think it's important now, I think we've 7 conveyed pretty much a lot of information to draft this 8 correctly for us that it -- somebody could make a 9 motion for the closure to as amended by the Council,

10 Regional Advisory Council, including the justification 11 make an amendment -- make a motion in that form and 12 then it sounds like they will do that, get it back to 13 us before it's signed. 14 15 MS. PATTON: Before it's submitted to 16 the Board. 17 18 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Okay. Before it's 19 submitted to the Board..... 20 21 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 22 23 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....and we'll have 24 an opportunity to see it in full before it's..... 25 26 MS. PATTON: And that's so the Council 27 is sure that your justification and you're conveying 28 what you would like to..... 29 30 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Okay. 31 32 MS. PATTON: .....for the Board. What 33 I can do is read this motion again..... 34 35 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Okay. Yeah. 36 37 MS. PATTON: .....if the..... 38 39 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Let's read it right 40 now and then we'll..... 41 42 MS. PATTON: Okay. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....this Council 45 will act. 46 47 MS. PATTON: Okay. So the Council 48 supports wildlife closure review 18-31 to maintain the 49 closure with the following modification to establish a




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1 harvest limit of one bull moose by Federal registration 2 permit for unit 26B remainder and four bull moose for 3 unit 26C for Kaktovik residents only. So it's closed 4 to all but Kaktovik residents. 5 6 The Arctic National Wildlife manager 7 through the delegation of authority in consultation 8 with the process established in the delegation of 9 authority letter will set the opening and closing dates

10 working with the community of Kaktovik as needed and 11 set annual harvest quotas and limits. 12 13 The Federal public lands are closed to 14 the taking of moose except by a Kaktovik resident 15 holding a Federal registration permit and hunting under 16 these regulations. 17 18 And then we have an extensive 19 justification as was discussed by the Council here. 20 We're making sure that the current needs of Kaktovik 21 are being met. There's a request from the Council to 22 conduct a harvest assessment for the community of 23 Kaktovik, there's also a request from the Council to 24 conduct further moose surveys to get better data and 25 information at different times of year and capture some 26 of the movement of moose. 27 28 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Just one 29 clarification. 30 31 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 32 33 CHAIRMAN BROWER: You said do a harvest 34 assessment, I think it's a harvest needs assessment. 35 36 MS. PATTON: Thank you for that, yes. 37 I misspoke there. Harvest needs assessment for 38 Kaktovik. 39 40 And we will incorporate in that 41 justification and discussion the broad discussion that 42 was held here today. And the key thing is that we get 43 the primary motion that the Council would like for a 44 vote. 45 46 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. Council, 47 you've read it, I think it kind of captures all the 48 intricacies that we've been talking about. And what do 49 you guys think, it's -- what's the wish to the Council?




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1 MR. REICH: Mr. Chair, I'd like to make 2 a motion to make that amendment go through. 3 4 CHAIRMAN BROWER: We have a motion on 5 the floor from Utqiagvik, Tad Reich? 6 7 MS. ITTA: I second that motion. 8 9 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Seconded by Nuiqsut,

10 Martha Itta. 11 12 MS. KIPPI: Question. 13 14 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Question been called 15 for. All those in favor of approving the closure of 16 moose -- and what's the number, WCR..... 17 18 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 19 20 CHAIRMAN BROWER: ...... 18..... 21 22 MS. PATTON: ...... 31. 23 24 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....31, with the 25 requirements amendments that were extensively discussed 26 and the justification signify by saying aye. 27 28 IN UNISON: Aye. 29 30 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All those opposed say 31 nay. 32 33 (No opposing votes) 34 35 CHAIRMAN BROWER: The ayes have it. We 36 have passed with amendments. We sincerely that OSM 37 will be diligent in supporting staff, the Council, and 38 I think it's prudent to look at this in that way. 39 40 Thank you. 41 42 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, one 43 other thing the Council had discussed wanting to submit 44 this similar request in language to the Board of Game 45 or to ADF&G and so..... 46 47 CHAIRMAN BROWER: In the form of a 48 motion? 49




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1 MS. PATTON: That would be just be a 2 form of a motion to submit the same language to ADF&G. 3 4 CHAIRMAN BROWER: The State Board of 5 Game. Yeah. 6 7 What's the wish of the Council. We had 8 discussed and deliberated. We know there's a estimated 9 population in the 26B area that affects 26C remainder

10 -- 26C and then 26B remainder I think. That 25 moose 11 is part of that 212 population and there's a distinct 12 according to Fish and Feathers that there's a -- 94 13 moose over here. And we're combining that to try to 14 get four and one. That's probably sustainable. So we 15 need -- we -- there's some dialogue that Beth Leonard 16 said we're going to use 200 moose as the basis to start 17 advocating for a limited hunt. You should be afraid of 18 that phrase, the limited hunt because it doesn't say 19 subsistence. And I don't think that's a -- for me 20 there needs to be diligence here and discernment of 21 what you can do in terms of subsistence need. And I 22 think the language that we've developed should be 23 carried over to the State side and that should be our 24 recommendation. 25 26 So with that I yield to the Council on 27 if to provide these comments over to the State Board of 28 Game for their system. Because once you pass the 29 Canning River that's a dividing line, there's a 30 dividing line between Federal land and State land in 31 these areas. And we should be trying to affect State 32 regulation as well with all of the same justifications 33 and needs because I don't think 200 should be a 34 threshold level. It just -- it's almost 35 incomprehensible in my view to start a limited hunt 36 with that few number. 37 38 Anyway what's the wish of the Council. 39 40 MS. ITTA: Mr. Chair, I make a motion 41 to submit the documents to the State Board of fish and 42 Game. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: There's a motion on 45 the floor to provide these comments to the State Board 46 of Game by Nuiqsut. 47 48 MR. REXFORD: I second.




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Seconded by Kaktovik. 2 3 MR. HOPSON: Question. 4 5 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Question been called 6 for. All those in favor of providing comments to 7 mirror the closure in moose, I always forget the 8 number, WCR 18-31, to the State Board of Game to align 9 regulations as they were requested us to do was the

10 State's initial request to align State and Federal 11 regs, so there's no difference in law across the border 12 signify by saying aye. 13 14 IN UNISON: Aye. 15 16 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All those opposed say 17 nay. 18 19 (No opposing votes> 20 21 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Hearing none, motion 22 passes. 23 24 MS. PATTON: Thank you, Mr. Chair and 25 Council 26 27 CHAIRMAN BROWER: It was their request 28 to align regs too. Oh, I'm sorry. My bad. It was 29 their request anyway that we align regs, right. 30 31 MS. PATTON: All right. Mr. Chair and 32 Council, we did have a request so we could get the BLM 33 NPRA report to the Council prior to Martha needing to 34 return to her community. I believe we have a Power 35 Point..... 36 37 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. 38 39 MS. PATTON: .....as well. 40 41 CHAIRMAN BROWER: BLM, you're up. 42 43 MS. PATTON: So we will just get that 44 load quickly. And then their report was mailed out to 45 you with your meeting books and we'll hand that out as 46 well again. 47 48 CHAIRMAN BROWER: BLM, you have the 49 floor.




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1 MS. JONES: Well, thank you to the 2 Chair and Council again and Fish and Wildlife Service 3 for this opportunity to present some information about 4 BLM and get feedback on different projects that we've 5 got away. In introduced myself yesterday, but again 6 for the record my name is Shelly Jones, I'm the 7 district manager for BLM, Arctic District Office. And 8 today with me I have one of our wildlife biologists, 9 Tim Vossberg, and his primary focus on the Arctic staff

10 is working with our caribou data and using that in our 11 permits and planning projects. 12 13 And I don't see Roy here yet, he may be 14 in a bit later. But many of you do know Roy Nageak, 15 he's our natural resource specialist stationed here in 16 Utqiagvik. And he is a good point of contact for the 17 community and this region to get answers to questions 18 or help get staff from our Fairbanks office involved in 19 issues that we need to be. 20 21 So with that, one of the things I guess 22 I'd like to say about BLM and our mission, we're a 23 major Federal land management agency all over the State 24 of Alaska and the -- primarily western U.S. We have 25 what we call a multiple use mission so we have similar 26 mission as other Federal agencies like the Park Service 27 and the Fish and Wildlife Service as far as our 28 custodial responsibilities for inventory and keeping 29 track of the status of resources on lands entrusted to 30 us. We also have conservation goals for those 31 resources, but the multiple use mission is quite a bit 32 different from the Park Service and Fish and Wildlife 33 Service where we also have a responsibility to 34 entertain use authorizations and development of some of 35 the resources consistent with the multiple use and 36 sustained yield principle. So that makes a little more 37 similar in that way to the way the State of Alaska 38 manages many of their lands and some of the corporation 39 lands are managed in a similar way, in that multiple 40 use. 41 42 So the other thing I wanted to say, our 43 primary way we manage is through planning and 44 permitting. And those are -- those are the main 45 activities that we work at day to day. 46 47 So right now we have three major 48 environmental impact statement, EIS level activities 49 going on. The first one is we are rewriting our NPRA




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1 integrated activity plan. And that integrated activity 2 plan is our over-arching planning document that directs 3 our activities within the Petroleum Reserve. And last 4 time we rewrote it was in 2013. We have a new 5 Secretarial order out, Secretarial order 3352, that 6 directed us to review our plan and potentially offer 7 more areas available for leasing into the future. So 8 back in November 2018 we published a notice of intent 9 to rewrite the plan in the Federal Register and began

10 scoping meetings. We held those in all of the major 11 communities within the NPRA as well as some adjacent 12 communities such as Anaktuvuk Pass and Point Lay. We 13 had a little bit of a delay due to the furlough so we 14 had -- we got back to Point Lay in February. And also 15 had meetings in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Washington, 16 D.C. on that. 17 18 So we had -- let's see, the main 19 decisions that need to be made as far as that IAP have 20 to do with which areas would be open or closed to oil 21 and gas development. As you probably know that's the 22 main purpose in the legislation for the National 23 Petroleum Reserve Production Act, directs the BLM to 24 manage primarily for that resource and the development 25 of it. So other activities are allowable as consistent 26 with that primary purpose. Another primary purpose 27 however is the subsistence use of the area. So that's 28 an important balancing act that we have to keep in 29 mind. 30 31 So at the community meetings we talked 32 to people about the areas that are currently open for 33 leasing and asked them to provide comments to us on 34 whether those areas should be adjusted, also which 35 areas might need to remain closed. Also there's a 36 category of open that has -- could be listed as 37 deferred so that it wouldn't be open immediately, but 38 could set a date into the future after which they could 39 be open. 40 41 Another aspect of the open/closed 42 categories are no surface occupancy. That's a 43 designation on areas that are open for oil and gas 44 development, but the no surface occupancy means that 45 people would need to access the resources through 46 directional drilling adjacent to that area. 47 48 The -- another topic that is of 49 interest to BLM and many people is the special area




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1 boundaries. And we're interested in knowing whether 2 the boundary locations are appropriate. They're -- let 3 me see here, there's winter. This is the Teshekpuk 4 Lake special area. And that is primarily established 5 for the caribou, importance of caribou habitat in that 6 area as well as some of the nesting waterfowl in that 7 area. 8 9 We also have a special management area

10 around the Utukok River uplands and this is a special 11 area for the calving, I believe for calving for the 12 Western Arctic caribou herd. We've got a special 13 boundary around the western side of the Colville River 14 for the important raptor habitat in that area 15 primarily. And there's a couple of coastal special 16 areas at Peard Bay and Kasegaluk Lagoon I think for the 17 different marine mammals and waterfowl I think in those 18 areas. So we're interested in knowing if those 19 locations or additional areas might need to be 20 considered for inclusion into a special management area 21 where different requirements could be set in place. 22 23 We've also recently reestablished the 24 NPRA working group. That was a group that was set into 25 motion through the record of decision in the 2013 26 integrated activity plan. The main purpose for that 27 group is to advise BLM on the management plan. So 28 we've had I think two or three meetings maybe now so 29 far. We're meeting once a month with the different 30 entities that make up that working group and trying to 31 get input onto our range of alternatives. 32 33 So now that's the phase we're on. As I 34 said we published that notice of intent in November. 35 All of our planning projects are on a pretty much of a 36 fast track now due to other Secretarial orders that 37 dictate the time frame and the page length of the 38 document. So we're hoping the schedule has us getting 39 done with this plan I think in January, this coming 40 January so right now we're trying to get the range of 41 alternatives outlined. These are being analyzed by a 42 contractor and the Arctic District staff and our 43 cooperating agencies that are working with us will be 44 reviewing the products that come out of our contractor. 45 So at the end of the day it will be our plan, our 46 product and our director will make decisions on it. 47 But in order to get through the projects right now 48 we're using contractors. 49




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1 Oh, I should say also one other -- one 2 other aspect of this plan that's important are the -- 3 currently they're called best management practices that 4 we use to -- as terms on the permits that we issue 5 subsequently. So the ones we're using right now are 6 from our 2013 record of decision, but we're taking 7 comment on that. The -- for one thing they want to 8 change the name again now back to required operating 9 procedures because they are -- where they're applicable

10 they are required. So that'll be the term we use into 11 the future, but so we're taking comment on what things 12 should be considered for that. And if there are things 13 that might work better that we should include or other 14 things that need to be eliminated. 15 16 Another major EIS that we're working on 17 almost on the same schedule as our IAP is a major new 18 development from ConocoPhillips proposed -- they call 19 it a master development plan. It's a plan that 20 outlines I think about maybe five to 10 years at least 21 worth of potential activities that they would like to 22 develop on leases that they hold west of the 23 developments at GMT2. The proposed Willow master 24 development plan would include infrastructure a little 25 bit similar in scale I guess to the situation at Alpine 26 where it would -- they envision a central processing 27 facility, infrastructure pads, up to five drill pads. 28 Each pad would have up to 50 wells on each pad. 29 There's access and in-field roads that have been 30 proposed, an airstrip, major airstrip at the central 31 processing facility as well as depending on different 32 alternatives. They -- any pad -- any drill pad that 33 isn't connected to the others by a road would also need 34 an airstrip for support. There would be pipelines, 35 even in the absence of roads obviously there would need 36 to be pipelines connecting those pads back to the 37 central processing facility. 38 39 There are very limited gravel 40 prospects, new prospects so they're working on that and 41 I'll talk about that in a minute. But the -- they've 42 proposed a new gravel location and also a temporary 43 island, they call a marine modular transfer island. So 44 that's a gravel island that they would build. If 45 proposed in the location there it would be at Atigaru 46 Point off the coast there and they would build that 47 with gravel and then bring large modules that would 48 build the facilities to the island, off load them onto 49 the land in the wintertime and transport them along an




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1 ice road back to the locations at the Willow site. 2 3 So that project is underway. Again 4 working on the alternatives right now with our 5 partners. Both of these projects that I've mentioned 6 have numerous partners including the North Slope 7 Borough, other Federal agencies and different Native 8 and corporate interests on the North Slope as well as 9 the State of Alaska, Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast

10 Guard, DOT. 11 12 So the Willow project is also planned 13 to be complete in January, this coming January. And 14 they'll be additional opportunities on both of these 15 projects after we get to a draft stage where we'll be 16 coming back out to the communities with the draft 17 alternatives and some information about what we did 18 with the comments we got initially and explaining where 19 we're leaning as far as the preferred alternative for 20 that plan -- those plans. 21 22 Oh, I had a lot of good slides I could 23 have shown you along the way. This is the location of 24 the current development, this is GMT1 and GMT2. This 25 winter the gravel road has been complete to GMT. So 26 that's some of the work they did this winter. But then 27 there were ice roads out into this area for the 28 exploration drilling that I'll talk about in a minute 29 as well, but this is basically -- is the Willow area. 30 So the pads 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. And this is the location 31 of the central processing facility pad and the large 32 airstrip. And this is that modular transfer island 33 that I mentioned and this is the -- I think they call 34 it the Timik Suvik (ph) gravel mine. This is a new 35 spot that Conoco found that they think would provide 36 enough gravel for their project. And so they're -- 37 they did a little bit more work to delineate that 38 gravel source as well. 39 40 The leasing for the Coastal Plain of 41 the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, this was a project that 42 came -- the responsibility to BLM came in 2017 when 43 Congress -- the Secretary was directed to work through 44 BLM to establish a competitive oil and gas leasing 45 program for the 1002 area in the Refuge and to manage 46 that program in a manner similar to the way we manage 47 the oil and gas program in the National Petroleum 48 Reserve. So we've been working on that mission and got 49 started in -- I don't think I have that date that we




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1 got -- got started, but we have been working over the 2 course of the last year on an environmental impact 3 statement again through our contractor to develop a 4 leasing plan. The Tax Act directed BLM get in a 5 position to hold no fewer that two area wide lease 6 sales within 10 years. The first lease sale would be 7 within four years of the date of the Tax Act and the 8 second lease needs to be within seven years. Each 9 sales needs to offer at least 400,000 acres and include

10 areas of highest petroleum potential. In addition the 11 Secretary can authorize no more than 2,000 acres of 12 surface development within the Coastal Plan for that 13 purpose. 14 15 So in addition to the EIS that's going 16 on and they held meetings in Fairbanks and Anchorage 17 and Kaktovik, Arctic Village, Venetie, Washington, 18 D.C., to comment on their draft plan and trying to get 19 that finalized now. Overlapping that EIS project we 20 had application for -- to do seismic exploration. 21 That's usually -- information on seismic is available 22 ahead of time to help inform the lease sale and the 23 areas that might be more desirable to offer for lease. 24 So we were not surprised to know that people wanted to 25 do that kind of exploration. We started processing 26 that last summer, actually worked on it through the 27 summer. And it got put on hold right now for the time 28 being, but we expect to continue to work on that. They 29 -- we didn't get it done on time for there to be a 30 exploration program this winter, but the applicant 31 still would like to do that and get it approved in time 32 to do that next winter. So we'll be probably picking 33 that up again within the next couple of months to move 34 that forward. 35 36 This is a map of some of the areas that 37 are -- so I'm moving to permitting now. And this is -- 38 these are all typically done and have been done with 39 environmental assessments as opposed to environmental 40 impact statements. So the time frames and the length 41 of the documents are smaller and they tier off of other 42 documents that we've done previously. So this was an 43 application from ConocoPhillips to do more gravel 44 exploration in the vicinity of the Willow pads and the 45 gravel site that they had already located. And also do 46 a little bit more gravel exploration and putting in 47 some thermistors and weather station near the Atigaru 48 Point and out even offshore drilling out towards the 49 direction of the module transfer island.




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1 Let's see. 2 3 They drilled about -- they're nearly 4 done with this project now. When they are done they 5 will have drilled about 125 onshore boreholes. They 6 had kind of two phases of this project, one where they 7 drug geophysical equipment, imagery type equipment 8 around ahead of time with tracked vehicles to get a 9 little bit of a better picture of the subsurface

10 gravels and then follow it along with a bore drill to 11 take samples in locations that looked promising. And 12 wherever they found a promising locations they had what 13 they called step outs where they would go out 14 incrementally distant from the first find and try to 15 depict the extent of the gravel resource in that area, 16 the depth and perimeter of it. 17 18 The other main project that 19 ConocoPhillips took on in the NPRA this winter is their 20 winter exploration program. And as I mentioned they 21 built an ice road network. They had ice roads already 22 going to GMT2 to haul the gravel for the road and the 23 development out there, but they also extended the ice 24 roads further west into the Willow area so that they 25 could move their drill -- two drills that they were 26 using this winter at -- in the Willow area. And they 27 had -- they wanted to drill six different places, they 28 had 10 possible that were approved, but only intended 29 -- and they've drilled four of those now, I think 30 they're working on the fifth one and hope to be done I 31 think in another couple of weeks on that project. So 32 there was a lot of work involved there. The way it 33 kind of worked is I think they had sort of four main, 34 two, three, four main areas that they were going to 35 drill around the main point being here and then 36 depending on different factors they would drill one or 37 two more at the edges. So they had -- so there are 10 38 stars up there in all, but only six will have been 39 drilled at the end of the project. 40 41 Okay. 42 43 Another project that we accomplished 44 this year or nearly done, BLM's had an ongoing 45 responsibility to manage the old legacy wells that were 46 drilled historically by the USGS and the military and 47 some of those wells weren't capped properly or were 48 other issues with the reserve pits and hazards 49 potentially at the surface now that need to be dealt




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1 with. It's a very expensive program and so we've been 2 putting whatever funding we have towards this. So this 3 year's project was for three wells that needed to be 4 remediated just outside the NPRA on actually I believe 5 ASRC lands, but they're known as the Gubick and 6 Grandstand legacy wells. There are three are three of 7 them and they're at the third location right now 8 completing the plugging of the well and cleaning up 9 whatever surface issues they can during the winter.

10 11 MS. KIPPI: Can you point them out? 12 (Indiscernible - away from microphone)..... 13 14 MS. JONES: Yeah. One -- so I think 15 that's right. This -- I can't really read from here, 16 staging area. And then I think the..... 17 18 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: I think there's 19 two wells at that location and then one to the south. 20 21 MS. JONES: So I think those are the 22 two that are done and this is the one that's -- that 23 they just mobilized to last week. So here's Franklin 24 Bluff so just due west there on the east side of the 25 Colville. 26 27 MS. KIPPI: (Indiscernible) that you're 28 trying to give us the information on. 29 30 MS. JONES: So some of the other 31 permitting activities that we've got authorized this 32 year, we have -- always have had quite a few cargo 33 hauling projects, rights of ways for overland moving of 34 goods. So we have issued a couple of those even beyond 35 what's on this list. Last week I think we issued to a 36 couple of local transporters or maybe those permits are 37 still underway, but we've also got an application for 38 thermistors and investigations by ConocoPhillips to 39 look at the ice along the Colville near Ocean Point. 40 And we finished a right of way application that the 41 Bureau of Indian Affairs applied for with -- on behalf 42 of Nuiqsut to access the Colville River for -- to make 43 a road to access the river from the community. So that 44 was approved back in the end of March. And we 45 authorized -- I think next year if they get funding 46 they want to award a contract for plugging and abating 47 the issues at the Tulageak well site which is east of 48 Barrow. So we authorized assessment of that area to 49 Olgoonik to go out and do some borehole drilling out in




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1 that area. 2 3 We've got some upcoming research 4 permits from the University of Alaska Fairbanks wanting 5 to do research on well or lakes. I'm not exactly sure 6 right now the location of those research lakes. We've 7 been working for the last two years on an Arctic Slope 8 telecom right of way to put a fiber optic cable between 9 Barrow and Atqasuk and so we're still working with the

10 applicant on getting a little bit more information on 11 some of the river crossing so that we can complete that 12 environmental assessment. And the last one is another 13 cargo hauling for Lyndon Transport. 14 15 Also I'm not sure if I missed a slide, 16 but we've been working the last two years of -- in 17 conjunction with the North Slope Borough on what they 18 call the community winter access trail. And that's a 19 pretty novel I guess in my opinion idea to be able to 20 use highway vehicles off of ice roads or off the 21 regular highway system on compacted snow roads. And 22 that was pretty successful last year. And this year we 23 added a couple of additional communities that were -- 24 weren't included last year so that -- last year there 25 wasn't approved right of way for Wainwright, but this 26 year there is. And there's also -- they added the 27 additional route between Atqasuk and Wainwright to the 28 right of way application. So we'll be working this 29 winter or this summer with the Borough to go out and 30 monitor the conditions under that snow road to make 31 sure that that is meeting our expectations and the 32 Borough requirements for not damaging the tundra. 33 34 The way that works is that people that 35 want to travel contact the Borough and get a 36 reservation to travel as part of a convoy and that way 37 they're safer, if anything goes wrong with their 38 vehicles they can be loaded up or helped if they get 39 stuck. And so I guess the message from BLM is we have 40 had a lot of complaints this year I guess, this is only 41 my second year, but we had a couple last year, but I 42 think more this year on people traveling outside the 43 convoy. And so I think maybe we need to work maybe on 44 our messaging a little bit more with maybe the help of 45 the Council and others in this region about the 46 importance of traveling with the convoy for your own 47 safety and for the benefit of not getting stuck and 48 having other issues that search and rescue or other 49 people might have to deal with.




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1 So I think I'll turn it over to Tim to 2 talk a little bit about our caribou projects. We 3 typically do those in conjunction with other agencies 4 like the North Slope Borough, USGS and Fish and Game to 5 make our money go further on those projects. 6 7 MR. VOSSBERG: Yeah, my name's Tim 8 Vossberg, wildlife biologist for the Arctic district, 9 BLM.

10 11 So I just have a few slides here, a few 12 more minutes of a presentation. Just kind of wanted to 13 talk a little bit about subsistence use in the 14 northeast NPRA where a lot of this development is being 15 planned and is currently occurring. Some of the data 16 I'm going to talk about was -- or most of the data was 17 included in the GMT2 EIS so this is kind of a review, 18 but it might be helpful for some of the new Council 19 members to kind of see how -- what the approach was 20 with the companies and the BLM in doing this harvest 21 assessment, subsistence use of caribou in this area. 22 23 Just a quick review. 24 25 We looked at some of this data 26 yesterday regarding the Teshekpuk and the Central 27 Arctic caribou herds. Current populations are 28 estimated at about 55 or 56,000 for the Teshekpuk 29 caribou herd and about half of that for the Central 30 Arctic herd. The populations do fluctuate over time 31 and this slide kind of shows that. Although there's 32 been a general trend of an increase from the early -- 33 late '70s up until about 2008 or 2009. 34 So there's been a lot of data collected 35 on both the Central Arctic herd and Teshekpuk Lake 36 caribou with telemetry data. And this slide is 37 actually just caribou movement data from 2003 through 38 -- basically through 2017. Kind of -- and this is 39 focused primarily in the project area of the Willow and 40 GMT2 area. So it's just looking at a small portion 41 west of Nuiqsut, small portion of the NPRA. You kind 42 of get a -- if you look at these different seasons, 43 there's eight different seasons depicted on this slide. 44 Most of the caribou in the area are in the vicinity of 45 the community from basically mid to late summer and 46 then through the fall. So these caribou are doing a 47 lot of movement during these periods. 48 49 A little earlier in the season is the




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1 mosquito -- what they call the mosquito season. It's 2 generally just a couple of weeks and the caribou 3 concentrate primarily along the coastal areas during 4 that period. And this part -- this slide in the center 5 shows that time period and just a portion of the area 6 where the caribou are concentrated along the coast, 7 mainly north and northeast of Teshekpuk Lake. And the 8 reason I showed this slide is because the next slide 9 will kind of get a little bit more into the subsistence

10 use areas around Nuiqsut. 11 12 And this is data from Steven R. Brond 13 and Associates. It's at least 10 -- I think it's 12 14 years worth of data showing the primary hot spots for 15 subsistence use of caribou out of Nuiqsut. There's 16 some older data also depicted here starting back in 17 late '70s, but just the hot spots are the more reddish 18 colored areas when the subsistence use area. Extending 19 from the coast north of the village southbound along 20 the Colville River and then a little bit to the east, 21 but primarily south and west of Nuiqsut. So that 22 encompasses a lot of this area that's currently being 23 proposed for development. 24 25 MR. HOPSON: For the record, William 26 Hopson. That slide and the blue area is the caribou 27 because this is not focus from where we're at. 28 29 MR. VOSSBERG: I'm sorry. Yeah, the 30 slides aren't showing up very clearly, but..... 31 32 MR. HOPSON: So are you saying the blue 33 areas are the caribou? 34 35 MR. VOSSBERG: The blue areas are just 36 a tangle of movement lines per..... 37 38 MR. HOPSON: Okay. 39 40 MR. VOSSBERG: .....by individual 41 caribou. 42 43 MR. HOPSON: Okay. Can you tell me are 44 these -- I mean, like I said it's very -- you can't 45 read it. Can you tell me what months these are -- do 46 they have a month on each photo? 47 48 MR. VOSSBERG: Yeah, I can give you a 49 rough estimate of the time periods starting with the




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1 mosquito season is basically early to mid July through 2 the end of July. And then it transfers in to what they 3 call estered (ph) fly season when the mosquitos kind of 4 abate and the flies are a nuisance to the animals and 5 the caribou are -- behavior changes drastically during 6 that period. And that's in August. 7 8 MR. HOPSON: Okay. And then they still 9 remain in that area to your knowledge?

10 11 MR. VOSSBERG: They -- the animals are 12 moving during that period after the mosquito season, 13 basically moving southward and westward. So a lot of 14 the movement during that period is south of Teshekpuk 15 Lake and over to the west towards Atqasuk. 16 17 MR. HOPSON: Okay. Thank you. Because 18 I was..... 19 20 MR. VOSSBERG: Yeah. 21 22 MR. HOPSON: .....trying to look at 23 this photo a different way, differently. Now the point 24 I'd like to make to you folks is on an environmental 25 impact statements. That in the impact statement you 26 need to insert in there caribou deterrents from the oil 27 fields. That is a issue for me because once they get 28 in between the pipeline whether there's food for them 29 or not they -- you know, like the coal mine to the west 30 they won't cross the road, once they get in the grid 31 line of the pipeline they -- they're afraid to come 32 out. And the point I want to make is somewhere in the 33 environmental impact statement there needs to be some 34 caribou deterrents to keep them away from the grid line 35 of the pipelines for the good of the caribou and their 36 health. 37 38 And that's the only point I wanted to 39 make and I thank you very much. 40 41 MR. VOSSBERG: Thank you for the 42 comment. Yeah, I don't think I have too much more to 43 say about this slide. The overall area of subsistence 44 use for -- specifically for Nuiqsut is quite large and 45 I think the outer boundary lines on the slide kind of 46 depict that. 47 48 And this is my last slide and it's data 49 from Steven R. Brond and Associates on his household




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1 survey of Nuiqsut residents. 2 3 MS. ITTA: I have a question. Can you 4 go back one slide, please? 5 6 MR. VOSSBERG: Yes. 7 8 MS. ITTA: You stated that the red 9 color is our subsistence use area?

10 11 MR. VOSSBERG: No, the entire..... 12 13 MS. ITTA: The entire boundary? 14 15 MR. VOSSBERG: .....boundary is 16 considered the subsistence use area. And it's just 17 relative use of those areas within that outer boundary. 18 So..... 19 20 MS. ITTA: And the one in the red 21 what's that? 22 23 MR. VOSSBERG: So that's just called a 24 higher -- that's more concentrated use compared to 25 other areas. So it's -- yeah, it's a relative 26 comparison. 27 28 MS. ITTA: Okay. Would you guys have 29 like information or a map to show, you know, the 30 subsistence uses in each area like going down river, 31 you know, they hunt for furbearing animals and, you 32 know, moose down that way. And then in these maps it's 33 really important to note the loss of subsistence use 34 areas to our community because we rarely see, you know, 35 because we're really impacted and none of that was in 36 these documents excepts within the EIS' show, you know, 37 the loss of subsistence use areas and how we're being 38 displaced. We never see anything like that to show, 39 you know, other communities or the outside world how 40 deeply impacted we are by infrastructure and, you know, 41 these pads and everything that goes with them because 42 -- I mean, it's just real important to let everybody 43 know that. As they are going further west to the other 44 villages they need to understand what they're going to 45 be facing, the impacts and how they're going to be 46 displaced. It's already happening in our village and 47 it really hurts our community. So I would like to see 48 maps and information on, you know, the loss of 49 subsistence use areas.




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1 Thank you. 2 3 MR. VOSSBERG: Thank you, Martha. And 4 you're totally correct that the disruption to 5 subsistence use activities in that area are significant 6 and are growing. And I think the value of having data 7 like this is at least have some baseline information 8 that, you know, we can move forward with and document 9 changes in that use over time into the future.

10 11 You had another question regarding 12 other subsistence use activities and this document that 13 I'm -- referred -- or that I used -- pulled this map 14 from is actually appendix of the GMT2 EIS and Steven R. 15 Brond and Associates with -- through ADR completed use 16 activities for all of the -- I think all of the 17 activities -- subsistence use activities of Nuiqsut 18 residents including furbearers, fisheries and all of 19 those. So similar maps are available that you could 20 look at through that place. 21 22 MS. ITTA: Okay. I recall having a 23 meeting on the regional mitigation strategy in 24 Fairbanks a couple years back and they did a 25 presentation on the loss -- the use of the subsistence 26 areas and the loss and what it's going to look like in 27 the future. I had requested they do that presentation 28 in my community and wherever they hold their meetings, 29 but they never brought that presentation and that map 30 to show how much less -- how much subsistence areas 31 we're going to be losing and in that map it showed the 32 whole North Slope was red and it's going to be 33 affected. The whole North Slope. So, you know, it's 34 not going to only be affecting Nuiqsut, it's going to 35 affect all the villages from what I saw on that 36 presentation. And I requested that to be presented to 37 the communities and wherever you guys are holding your 38 meetings and the public hearings, but they never did 39 bring that presentation back to the table. And that's 40 real important to show to the other communities as they 41 are moving west to their lands. 42 43 Thank you. 44 45 So if you can please try to find that 46 presentation or that map. I know you were there, 47 Shelly, during the regional mitigation strategy in 48 Fairbanks. We had a couple of meetings and workshops 49 there on that for GMT1. And they did presentations




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1 there and I requested them to be presented at our 2 community, but they never did. 3 4 Thank you. 5 6 MS. JONES: I'll follow-up on that. I 7 -- do you remember was it a Steven R. Brond 8 presentation or was that a BLM presentation? 9

10 MS. ITTA: I believe that was -- I 11 don't think it was Steven R. Brond or if it was under 12 Bureau of Land Management, but I know there was a few 13 presentations on the subsistence use areas and, you 14 know..... 15 16 MS. JONES: Okay. I'll follow-up. I 17 actually didn't work for this office yet during the 18 regional mitigation strategy, I came on just after, but 19 I -- I'll ask Stacy and -- both Stacys, whether..... 20 21 MS. ITTA: Okay. Yeah. 22 23 MS. JONES: .....they'll be able 24 to..... 25 26 MS. ITTA: I was hoping she would be 27 here, but because she knows a lot of the information 28 that Nuiqsut's gone through and all the concerns that 29 we've..... 30 31 MS. JONES: Okay. 32 33 MS. ITTA: .....voiced. 34 35 MR. NAGEAK: Can I follow-up with that? 36 37 MS. JONES: Go ahead. 38 39 MR. NAGEAK: Thank you. Thank you for 40 that concern. For the record my name is Roy Nageak, 41 I'm a natural resource specialist for BLM in NPRA. And 42 you are correct. With GMT1 and GMT2 we had extensive 43 meetings, not only in Nuiqsut, but also in Barrow, 44 Wainwright and we went to most of those villages. And 45 we did -- you were there when we had the meeting in 46 Fairbanks and there was a lot of people that were 47 involved. That was GMT1 and GMT2 were the first ones 48 to go into NPRA. 49




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1 MS. ITTA: Yes. 2 3 MR. NAGEAK: And there was a record of 4 decision that was made by prior Secretary of the 5 Interior with NPRA that if there's going to be any 6 development in NPRA they wanted the involvement of 7 people that live in NPRA, made a record of decision 8 that there will be a working group of people within 9 NPRA. And we finally got back after a couple of years

10 of not knowing what our role would be, it's going back 11 and the working group for NPRA set a meeting a couple 12 months ago. 13 14 MS. JONES: Right. They meet -- 15 they'll be meeting the third Thursday of every month 16 and this upcoming one I think is their third meeting. 17 18 MR. NAGEAK: And those -- the working 19 group is not advisory. 20 21 MS. ITTA: Yeah. 22 23 MR. NAGEAK: It's a working group that 24 work with each village in stating to lessen the impact 25 on their subsistence hunting. And Fix -- Fish Creek 26 was one of the highest comments from the Nuiqsut area 27 because that was a common place for a lot of the 28 Nuiqsut people in the summertime to go to. And I'm 29 glad that we're finally going back to that working 30 group because it's going to address some of the issues 31 the Nuiqsut people had in regard to their subsistence 32 area. In some cases they go where the oil is. And 33 right on the northeast section of Teshekpuk that is 34 specialty area that is so far still restricted for 35 development, but they're working on the -- right 36 outside of the restricted area and it's not open yet. 37 It can't be open unless by an act of congress or 38 something. And there's certain areas in NPRA that are 39 restricted. 40 41 MS. ITTA: Oh. Thank you, Roy. I just 42 wanted to state a concern that was brought up many 43 times by subsistence hunters. During the permitting 44 process when they're seeking their permits they tell us 45 we're unrestricted and then as soon as they get their 46 permits we're getting restricted, we're getting kicked 47 off our subsistence use areas. That needs to be 48 addressed because it's happening today. It happened 49 yesterday, it happened the other day. I got kicked off




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1 that road after we were told that we're not restricted. 2 So that needs to be addressed. 3 4 Thank you. 5 6 MS. JONES: Thank you, Martha. And we 7 got word of that a couple of days ago, I think earlier 8 this week or late last week. And I know Stacy was 9 following up with Donna, our main permitting person, in

10 contact with Conoco to find out what's going on with 11 that. That is right, that is not supposed to be 12 happening. 13 14 MR. NAGEAK: One of the keynotes that 15 the Chairman, Mr. Brower, noted that finally Nuiqsut is 16 working on their comprehensive plan. It's a plan that 17 was -- it's the last one for the North Slope, but it's 18 a plan that will be received by the State in regard to 19 how people feel about development and the areas of 20 concern. And it's a format that the State recognizes 21 that each village if they have the comprehensive plan 22 they will use that so that it will reflect the wants of 23 the village. And I think Nuiqsut was the last one 24 and..... 25 26 MS. ITTA: Yeah. 27 28 MR. NAGEAK: .....they had to tri- 29 lateral meeting to start working on that. 30 31 MS. ITTA: Yes. 32 33 MR. NAGEAK: And the areas of the 34 subsistence area may influence where the subsistence 35 uses from Nuiqsut will cover a broad area. And 36 whatever the subsistence rights have always been 37 recognized whether it's on Federal land or State land. 38 And the issues with the State since it's following what 39 the State wants to utilize in every village and we're 40 following it so we're done with Nuiqsut and the State's 41 got to look at it and say the people are really being 42 impacted because this is their area of subsistence that 43 they use. And each village is different. But if it's 44 noted in the comprehensive plan of what the subsistence 45 area is for Nuiqsut then some of the people like in the 46 State or -- will maybe look at (indiscernible) as a 47 justifiable reflection on what the people like in that 48 village. And they then need to start using some of 49 that information that is gathered for the comprehensive




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1 plan to start addressing some of these you said you are 2 concerned about it. 3 4 Thank you. 5 6 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chair. 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 9 William.

10 11 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 12 I got a comment. BLM, my comments would be directed to 13 you, some part of it to the Army Corps of Engineers. 14 15 What the Native people of the North 16 Slope really haven't heard any discussion on it in any 17 meetings in the past, but it needs to be brought out. 18 When you think about it you do these lease sales and 19 the subject of leaving the land the way you found it. 20 I bring that up because not just BLM, other agencies, 21 the Army Corps of Engineers, everyone at the Umiat 22 area, the Colville River which is really the most 23 important part for Nuiqsut. Before any other oil lease 24 sales are held I would like to see the Colville River, 25 Umiat cleanup. You prove to us if something goes wrong 26 you prove to us you can clean it up and leave it the 27 way you find it, not leaving it with tons of 28 contaminants flowing down rivers and in the land, the 29 caribou eat on top of the land. There's some -- I know 30 there's radioactive buried at Umiat. And what I would 31 like to see when you do a lease sale and the companies 32 leave, leave it the way you found it, fresh, clean and 33 not contaminated. 34 35 And that mechanism needs to put in in 36 the standards for a lease sale. Because I say that if 37 you really want to do that prove to us you can do such 38 a job as a cleanup in Umiat. And, you know, the way -- 39 they didn't leave it the way they found it, they left a 40 disaster. And that is not something I -- I don't want 41 to see that happen anywhere else in the lease sale 42 area. 43 44 I had to bring that out. 45 46 Thank you very much. 47 48 MS. JONES: Thank you. 49




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I've been wanting to 2 make a couple comments and looking at that map it's 3 important too. The issues on subsistence, you know, 4 there's always a major process that goes on. And these 5 areas are important for continued subsistence 6 opportunity that are created for the needs of the -- of 7 many communities. I many comm -- if you look at the 8 yellow area all the way (indiscernible) Barrow and 9 north, it's just an important area for many

10 communities. 11 12 One thing that's important to note in 13 an EIS is that it provides for an opportunity for the 14 Federal government to lease land. It also provides an 15 opportunity for oil companies and others like village 16 corporations to lease their lands. And for the 17 industry to provide a development plan and that goes 18 through a secondary EIS. And then communities are 19 involved. And then once an alt -- that EIS is done it 20 provides for the opportunity to submit a development 21 plan to the local government, the Borough. And there 22 are other things that do happen at the Borough that 23 probably don't happen at the BLM. Or because there are 24 a lot of policies in place for land management for the 25 Borough to address the reasonable availability of 26 subsistence resources. Broad statement, very broad 27 statement. 28 29 And we have worked with the Planning 30 Commissions, the communities and the Assembly to create 31 the Mitigation Advisory Committees for the North Slope 32 Borough. Created by the Assembly. And to work with 33 the community to look at the unmitigable, adverse 34 impacts, right, that infrastructure would provide some 35 of these things that they seem to be unmitigable 36 adverse impacts. 37 38 Over the course of 20 plus years a lot 39 of the elders that are already consumed and they're 40 resting, a lot of them have passed on, expressed in 41 many public hearings we need to work together so that 42 there's subsistence opportunity while there's 43 westernized opportunity for -- to provide jobs. I 44 could remember some of the elders like Clay Kahaluk, 45 Jr., (ph), Johnny Otonorok (ph), to name a few, they 46 would say (in Inupiaq). Give these opportunities of 47 employment to local people, our younger people that are 48 going to grow up and need sustainable employment. Find 49 those avenues on top of the infrastructure, the roads




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1 and make them available for subsistence access. 2 Enhance subsistence access where you could use the 3 roads. And Nuiqsut was one of the communities that 4 said we want the road to connect to the oil and gas. 5 Now they got a road. You can get on a gravel spur road 6 and get into Alpine, GMT1, CD5, GMT2. And create these 7 subsistence access points so you can go out and conduct 8 subsistence and have more access to these lands. So 9 there was a balancing act that the residents and the

10 elders sought. If you're going to develop we want you 11 to develop this way. If you go out there and look at 12 that that's a byproduct of those elders that said if 13 you're going to develop on our lands you're going to 14 make us have access. 15 16 Sometimes there are conditions and 17 issues that are dangerous like the heavy haul of gravel 18 with these B70s that are heavy, heavy equipment. I was 19 there last week. The equipment that cannot stop, they 20 put the brakes on and they got a 50 ton load of gravel 21 moving, very dangerous to drive in and around those ice 22 roads when they got -- when I saw -- there's a road 23 call B70 Roll. They call it that, there's a sign, it 24 says B70 Roll, right. And I look (in Inupiaq), that's 25 the most B70s I've ever seen. Lot of infrastructure, 26 lot of gravel being moved for GMT2. That's where it 27 becomes necessary to say we need to be cautious of the 28 residents' access for this one particular ice road 29 because somebody could get killed. There needs to be 30 policing a little bit. 31 32 But the infrastructure. I had a 33 opportunity to drive there in the summertime with Ely 34 Nucpeahn (ph), he -- and he said, no, I can't say that 35 (indiscernible) to avoid the infrastructure because we 36 were on the road and there was a bunch of (in Inupiaq), 37 we could (in Inupiaq) and run over them. And then me 38 and Ely because he always mention that all these (in 39 Inupiaq) avoid these areas. But in this one -- me and 40 him, he was a commissioner at the time, he said now I 41 can't say that anymore because there's (in Inupiaq) all 42 over the roads, we're going to (in Inupiaq) them. And 43 I saw that with my eyes. 44 45 And it's important -- it's important to 46 mention these things because this was the vision of 47 elders that have passed on that were in public hearings 48 in 1998, 2000, 2001 was Meltwater, 2004 was Alpine 49 Satellite. That's 15 and 20 years ago already. And




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1 it's important to recognize how some of these elders 2 made their statements. 3 4 And the creation of the Mitigation Fund 5 Advisory Committee. I've been the Chairman for -- and 6 elected by the committee in Nuiqsut for well over 15 7 years that the Mitigation Fund Advisory Committee has 8 been in existence. And that program is funded by the 9 industry. It provides resources to the community for

10 those that elect not to use the roads and 11 infrastructure to subsist and they say ah, I'm going to 12 go somewhere else. And the mitigation fund, we 13 distribute after a household surveys of subsistence 14 users and distribute sometimes $200,000 to the 15 community members and say here's mitigation funds for 16 the community. If you're conducting subsistence 17 activities you get mitigation funds regardless of your 18 race, color or national origin. As long as you live 19 there and are a resident and conducting subsistence you 20 applied for it. 21 22 That exists for 20 years. It's a 23 program. A lot of community members say it works. 24 It's a blessing because they buy gas and they go up to 25 Colville and go other places and use those funds. 26 Sometimes the Mitigation Fund Advisory Committee puts 27 $30,000 to their whalers and say here, $30,000 will buy 28 you gas for all your whaling captains to go across 29 island. We also set aside sometimes 10,000 to 20,000 30 to the local search and rescue so that they can buy new 31 equipment for their -- for those that elect to go 32 further out. 33 34 We also put aside $15,000 for their 35 fund. Their (in Inupiaq) fund means that they charter 36 a small airplane, get the fresh muktuk, put it in 37 trucks and totes and bring it to this aircraft and take 38 it to Nuiqsut so they can (in Inupiaq) and have (in 39 Inupiaq) with that whale. 40 41 So are many of the different things 42 that I've been involved in in the Mitigation Fund 43 Advisory Committee for 20 years now. I watch these 44 things. I in fact made the recommendation to the mayor 45 and said, Mr. Mayor, you need to cut this $200,000 46 check, the Mitigation Fund Advisory Committee 47 recommends you release these resources to the community 48 in accordance of the Mitigation Fund Advisory Committee 49 request that included the community. Open,




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1 transparent, the communities in our meetings, how shall 2 we use these mitigation funds. That is seldom talked 3 about. When infrastructure comes there's findings on 4 impacts that the Board does different things that you 5 will not see at the Federal level or at the State doing 6 these things. It's important to recognize these 7 things. 8 9 The other things that I see from

10 Nuiqsut to Atqasuk, to Wainwright, to Point Lay, to 11 Kaktovik, the North Slope Borough subsidizes energy, 12 the use of energy to the tune of over $20 million 13 annually. I don't know if we can sustain that into the 14 future. Some comprehensive plans for communities, the 15 communities are saying connect us, connect us with 16 roads so that we can have a different economy and able 17 to go from Atqasuk to Barrow and from Barrow to Nuiqsut 18 and to Deadhorse so we can do different things and try 19 to drive the cost of energy. 20 21 There's no way that the Borough can 22 fund an independent road system just because of the 23 sheer cost and also the scarce availability of gravel. 24 If there was going to be a road it would have to be 25 industry led and maybe synergies developed because you 26 would need only one road. There's no way you're going 27 to build two roads, one community road and one 28 industrial road. We would need to work together to 29 build one road, not just for oil and gas, but for 30 community as well. 31 32 Those are some of the dialogues that 33 are coming out of the villages when we're looking at 34 the future because we can't sustain. We can't -- we 35 have over $400 million of infrastructure projects in 36 all the communities on the North Slope, all of them. 37 If you put all of the request to fix everything, $400 38 million right now every year. And we have only $80 39 million of bonding capacity to fix all of the problems 40 from USDW buildings, water/sewer projects, you name it, 41 all the services are aging in our communities. And the 42 need -- we're already struggling to -- able to keep up 43 with that. Not to mention the escalating high cost of 44 things to do anything in our community. We talk about 45 $12 a gallon of fuel in Anaktuvuk and some communities. 46 47 We have the 1984 Gas Transfer Act says 48 if the oil industry comes around and strikes oil and 49 natural gas with that Gas Transfer Act we can take that




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1 natural gas and provide it to Wainwright and we can 2 provide it to Atqasuk. Those are some of the things we 3 need to absorb and recognize. There's tools in place 4 to have better energy security. And we need to 5 recognize these things. If we continue to isolate 6 ourselves for the next 40 years and not -- and be the 7 same old, we're not going to be able to sustain 8 ourselves on into the future. 9

10 I've heard from Point Lay they've got 11 the best coal resources on the planet. They call it 12 metallurgical coal, ship building coal. But we can't 13 put it to market because there's no transportation 14 mechanisms at all. There's these things out there where 15 there's A Star, you've heard about A Star, studying 16 transportation things, all of these. It shouldn't be 17 just an oil and gas planning anymore for our NPRA, it 18 should be community planning as well. 19 20 That's all I want to say on this part 21 because it's easy to -- it's real easy to look at one 22 set of impacts when there's a large scale impact and 23 the needs are high. 24 25 And I'll leave it there. 26 27 Those are my comments. 28 29 MS. JONES: Thanks, Gordon, I really 30 appreciate you saying that. And your attendance at our 31 IAP workshop to build the alternatives was really 32 appreciated. Your history and willingness to share 33 again for new people like me, I know it must get 34 tiresome, but I really -- I really thank you for that. 35 And also here today because I forgot to say that the 36 aspect of transportation is a somewhat new twist on 37 this rewrite of our IAP and trying to make sure that 38 we're cognizant of how we could work collectively on 39 that topic. 40 41 So thank you for adding that. 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And it might be new 44 to you, but the Borough had received resolutions from 45 Anaktuvuk Pass 10 years ago saying study the connection 46 of Anaktuvuk to the haul road seasonally because of the 47 high cost of doing anything. You always heard James 48 Nageak, I don't know if you heard any of his 49 testimonies, he's passed on, but some of his




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1 testimonies about he bought a door in Home Depot in 2 Fairbanks and COD ship it to Anaktuvuk. His door was 3 $140, but his freight was $1,400 just for a door. I 4 mean -- I mean, who -- you know, it's almost like a 5 $1,500 door by the time you try to do anything in our 6 communities. Barrow, the Native Village of Barrow, the 7 City Council of Barrow, pass resolutions long time ago, 8 they just collect dust, connect us to Prudhoe Bay. We 9 want to see how we can reduce search and rescue, how we

10 could maybe have better economy and bringing groceries 11 to the store to drive the cost of milk from $11 maybe 12 to five bucks. You know, those kind of things, to 13 start looking at different ways of providing resources 14 to our communities. Those were just collecting dust 15 for a good 10, 15 years. So it hasn't -- it's not new. 16 17 In fact when I was an intern for 18 Department of Interior in 1998 one of my required study 19 was to look at this EA, environmental assessment, that 20 Ebon Hopson put together. It was dated around 1980, 21 probably started earlier to connect Atqasuk and 22 Wainwright with natural gas I think. It was an old 23 environmental assessment. If you go to my office on my 24 wall I have clips of his work in the '70s and '60s of 25 fighting for natural gas from the Navy and trying to 26 find a way to make prices available of natural gas to 27 the community and it didn't look like it was just for 28 Barrow, it was for communities. From the '40s, '50s 29 and '60s the United States government had natural gas 30 for 30 years at NARL, only in the '60s did they extend 31 that use to the local people. So there's a long 32 history of these things out there. 33 34 Thank you. 35 36 MR. VOSSBERG: Yeah, just one more 37 slide. I wanted to make one point and this is -- 38 should end our presentation for today. 39 40 This slide is a compilation of data 41 from Steven R. Brond again with household surveys in 42 Nuiqsut. And to me the striking thing is the 43 consistency in the harvest from the community over 44 time. This is 12 years worth of data and it -- there's 45 some variability, but it's -- you know, the overall 46 harvest data for the community's been fairly consistent 47 over the past or since 2002. 48 49 Yeah, I just wanted to show that slide




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1 for that point. And that's the last slide I believe. 2 3 MS. JONES: I guess I just want to -- I 4 made a note when Martha Itta was giving her comments or 5 questions about the information and mapping on the 6 displacement. I know I've heard and read in our EIS' 7 about the aspect of even though the harvest numbers 8 look consistent, the amount of effort, distance or days 9 traveled, and I've heard that in different ways here

10 today again, just want to recognize that that was not 11 lost on us and that I need to follow-up a little bit 12 more to see what exactly is being asked in the survey 13 and if we could maybe make some apps or display the 14 information to document that additional efforts that 15 are needed or the distances that may have changed, 16 locations, to access the resource. 17 18 (Off record) 19 20 (On record) 21 22 MS. PATTON: Okay. Let's see. Martha 23 Itta had expected she'd be back after lunch. I think 24 we got everybody again here. 25 26 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, she did mention 27 she was going to tend to an emergency around lunchtime 28 in the community. I don't know if that means she's 29 heading home. 30 31 MS. PATTON: She expected she would be 32 able to join us back again around 1:00 o'clock. 33 34 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Uh-huh. All right. 35 So on our -- we'll go back to our agenda and we should 36 be under agency reports. And is that the Arctic 37 National Wildlife Refuge? 38 39 MS. PATTON: Yes, we're down to Arctic 40 National Wildlife Refuge. 41 42 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 43 For the record, Steve Berendzen, Refuge manager, Arctic 44 National Wildlife Refuge. What I'd like to do is go 45 through our summary that we've provided. I hope -- 46 think that you've received our summary; is that 47 correct?




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of those activities is a fuel tank that we'd like to



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1 MR. BERENDZEN: Okay. Well, I'm sorry 2 about that, that we did not get those to you. I 3 thought that had been done. We will provide those as 4 quickly as we can. Still I will summarize what I think 5 are some of the highlights from that. And some of the 6 things -- topics have been covered already, but I'll 7 just go in the order that we have the summary put 8 together. 9

10 And the first was oil and gas 11 development program. I think Shelly Jones did a good 12 job of giving an overview of that. We do partner 13 extensively with BLM on that activity. We've also 14 created a new position, an oil and gas specialist for 15 the Refuge, that will help us with that coordination 16 with BLM, with other agencies, with a lot of the 17 activities that are going on. We have a person acting 18 in that position currently, but we've also advertised 19 that position to fill it permanently. So we hope to 20 have someone hired on in a permanent capacity here in 21 the very near future. 22 23 We also hired a term position, not a 24 permanent position, but a term position in support of a 25 lot of the activities that are -- that we've got going 26 on with oil and gas, logistics and operational support, 27 we've got studies that will be going on on the Refuge, 28 on the 1002 area this coming field season and future 29 years. And there's a lot of logistical coordination 30 associated with that this person will be doing for us. 31 32 The -- that's -- you know, Shelly 33 covered the EIS and the EA, the NEPA update on that. 34 35 One of the things that we want to do 36 regarding those studies is coordinate with Kaktovik to 37 make sure that they have an understanding and awareness 38 of what the studies are. We're going to have different 39 activities, different researchers out there, different 40 means and methods of doing the work including aircraft, 41 fixed wing and helicopter. So we want to make sure 42 that Kaktovik is aware of what's going on so that they 43 -- when they have questions about some of these 44 activities that they're seeing we will hopefully be 45 able to answer questions or hopefully we'll answer 46 those questions upfront before the activities occur. 47 48 And one of the needs we have in support




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that. But I -- I'm just second guessing at this point.



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1 place at the airport for bulk fuel. There is currently 2 no aviation gas available in -- on Barter Island or in 3 the Village of Kaktovik. And we did have a bulk fuel 4 tank at the old airstrip down on the spit previously, 5 but we do not have one at the new airport and we'd like 6 to get at least one. 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Maybe I can mention 9 something here. There was -- I don't know if it was

10 you, about six months ago was in front of the Assembly. 11 We helped make a -- I think a resolution to try to 12 lease a spot on the airport, the new one, which the 13 Assembly elected to not grant. There was various 14 issues I think. But I think if you worked with the 15 North Slope Borough, perhaps the guys that have wings 16 like the search and rescue, that maybe it would be a 17 North Slope Borough tank under a mutual aid agreement 18 that might be more palatable maybe. I don't know. It 19 seems to me I would think the Borough would benefit if 20 there were search and rescue efforts going on in that 21 neck of the woods to increase hover time, to be able to 22 get fuel for their helicopters as well. That might be 23 a more palatable way of working together maybe. I 24 don't know. 25 26 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 27 Actually I had bounced that off of you at our public 28 meeting we had up here a couple of months ago and you 29 -- we had discussed it very briefly, and we have 30 decided we will request the lease to include a jet fuel 31 tank. What we typically burn is gasoline, low lead 32 aviation gasoline for our air -- fixed wing aircraft. 33 But what search and rescue helicopters typically need 34 is the jet fuel. And we occasionally, it's not common, 35 but occasionally use that ourselves. So you and I had 36 briefly touched on that and we have made a decision 37 that if we could get the site leased for both our AV 38 gas tank as well as a jet fuel tank we would have both 39 of those. And we would provide that fuel, make that 40 available for search and rescue operations. 41 42 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah. I mean, I'm 43 not the Assembly, but it seems to me in working with 44 the community I think there was some concerns about 45 enforcement issues and things like that. Because 46 they're already so regulated over there on access, it's 47 one of their concerns is I think that enforcement 48 agents would be much more pronounced having a spot like




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important to us to get those positions filled and have



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1 You know, we're -- that's one of the concerns about 2 this area because it's ANWR area and there's hefty 3 regulations to deal with already. 4 5 I mean, I -- there's Edward Rexford 6 sitting next to me. I don't know what his sentiments 7 are about doing these things, but one of the things I 8 could think of was I think, you know, the local search 9 and rescue might have needs. They don't always happen,

10 but I could remember 10 years ago they were extracting 11 or tasked with extracting bodies that were from these 12 recreational users in the Refuge. And I think that was 13 the second time that I know of that's happened. 14 15 MR. REXFORD: Uh-huh. 16 17 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 18 And, yes, we have had jet fuel available at the old 19 military heliport there that has been provided for 20 search and rescue efforts in the past and we would like 21 to continue providing that capability, but ideally at 22 the new airport at the same lease site where we'd like 23 the AV gas. 24 25 And, yes, going back to your comment 26 about the meeting six months ago, I was not present at 27 the meeting, that was a big failure on my part because 28 I was not aware that I needed to be at the meeting. 29 And I was told that that wasn't necessary so I did not 30 come to the meeting and I understand that there were 31 questions that I could have answered if I had been 32 here, but I was not. So that ordinance did not pass. 33 But we would like to try that again with another 34 request of the Borough Assembly. 35 36 So I will hope to work with the Borough 37 and see if we can make that happen. 38 39 I think the next topic I've got is a 40 little bit more on our staffing. We've got seven 41 vacancies right now which is a lot for Arctic Refuge. 42 That's a real significant part of the staff, over one- 43 third of the staff. And we're -- but we're getting 44 very close to filling three of those and we hope to 45 fill a couple more in the near future and hope to get 46 our staff built back up to where we can accommodate all 47 the needs. And with the oil and gas development 48 program taking a lot more staff time it is very




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1 the capability to, you know, deal with those issues as 2 well as all the routine issues that we've got. 3 4 The next topic that we had in our 5 summary is caribou and I think that was covered to a 6 large extent by Beth Leonard. One little update I 7 wanted to provide is that the International Porcupine 8 Caribou Board had a meeting last September in Kaktovik, 9 Mr. Rexford and the village hosted the team. Mr.

10 Rexford is a representative on it. The next Board for 11 the International Porcupine Caribou Board is 12 tentatively scheduled to be in -- be held in Canada, 13 specific location I don't think was decided, but during 14 October of 2019. So there hasn't been a lot of 15 activity with that Board, but that's what we're -- 16 we're hoping to get it up and going again. 17 18 The next topic is moose and we have 19 discussed moose quite a bit already during this 20 meeting. I think what I can follow-up with though is 21 that surveying has been a problem and we acknowledge 22 that some of that moose population is transient. And 23 Mr. Hopson made a very good point that they move a lot 24 during the summer, summer surveys would be ideal if we 25 could do those. We have looked into trying to do that. 26 We're hoping to do surveys other than just the ones we 27 do in April. But one thing about the April surveys is 28 that they do provide consistency in trends over time, 29 but it doesn't really answer the question of the 30 transient nature and the movements, but we will hope to 31 or we will look into opportunities to do surveys at 32 different times of the year, but another possibility 33 that I have discussed with Mr. Rexford is putting radio 34 transmitters on some of the animals to learn about 35 their movements that way. So that's another option 36 we're exploring and considering. But we definitely 37 want to learn more about that population and do what we 38 can to provide opportunities for harvest of those 39 moose. 40 41 Sheep is the next topic that I've got 42 and last year we tried to do a survey. We had weather 43 and logistical difficulties that prevented us from 44 doing that survey. So we will -- we're doubling down 45 making sure we're going to get that survey done this 46 year. There was a decline in the sheep population in 47 the -- around 2012, 2013. The previous surveys of 2016 48 and 2017 had good lamb survival and lamb to ewe ratios. 49 So that was suggesting that the population is in the




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1 process of recovery. We're very anxious to get out, do 2 the survey and see what kind of results we get this 3 summer. So definitely intend to do that. 4 5 The next topic moving into waterfowl. 6 We've got a study on common eider ducks on the Beaufort 7 Sea, Barrier Islands. We're very interested in the 8 species because population wide they have declined, 9 different populations anywhere between 50 percent and

10 90 percent, especially back in the years 1957 to 1992. 11 They've stabilized somewhat since then, but still a 12 species of concern because of those big declines and 13 low numbers. And there are a lot of them that nest on 14 the Barrier Islands and we -- Barrier Islands all the 15 way from Prudhoe Bay over into Canada with lots of them 16 on the Refuge Barrier Islands and also KIC Barrier 17 Islands. So we hope to get a permit again from KIC to 18 look at the eider nesting on their Barrier Islands and 19 all across that portion of the coast. 20 21 And the study is looking at survival of 22 -- or nest success and survival of the young. And one 23 of the reasons that's a concern is that with more open 24 water in the summers and more storm surges that can 25 wipe out the nest it's -- the question is how much 26 might they be affected by more open water during the 27 summer months during that nesting season and is that a 28 concern for the species. 29 30 We've also had an ongoing study for 31 several years at the mouth of the Canning River, the 32 Canning River delta study that has been looking at 33 shorebird nesting and survival. This has been in 34 partnership with the Manomet Bird Observatory. In 35 recent years we've expanded that to include waterfowl 36 and waterbirds and we have also recognized that there 37 are different things that play on the survival and 38 production of these species including lemmings, the 39 population ups and downs of lemmings, what they provide 40 for the predators, primary predators being the foxes. 41 But in the years of high lemming populations we have 42 much better bird nest success and young survival. So 43 we're kind of expanding that study to try to tie 44 everything together where we have a better 45 understanding of the predation the lemming numbers and 46 survival or the lemming numbers and the survival of the 47 young and we are, you know, looking at a -- more 48 broadly at this, at all the species that are in that 49 area. And we think that's going -- developed into a




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1 good study that will give us some good answers. 2 3 And then one more -- oh, I'm -- is 4 there a question? 5 6 MR. HOPSON: Yeah. 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Go ahead, William. 9

10 MR. HOPSON: Thank you very much. I 11 just wanted to speak up while you were on the eider 12 issue and the nesting area. My mother grew up 20 miles 13 from Prudhoe Bay on the coast. And they did a lot of 14 egging in the Barrier Islands out there. Right now the 15 issue, the other thing that you need to maybe start 16 documenting or look into is the polar bear has lost a 17 lot of ground on the ice. They are summering a lot of 18 them in the Barrier Islands and maybe that's something 19 that needs to be looked into as I see the eider duck 20 population. Jim Shockey and these guys are not the 21 only ones killing it off, you know, there's other 22 factors in there because I know they get them by the 23 truckloads down south, lower 48. But this is where 24 they lay the eggs and the polar bear can also do a lot 25 of damage to a nesting area. And I'd like to see that 26 looked into, how much and how many bears are in the 27 Barrier Islands. And maybe the number 1 thing would be 28 to document the health of the polar bears in the 29 Barrier Islands that you are going to be studying. 30 31 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 32 33 I wanted to bring that out. 34 35 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, William. 36 That's pretty astute observations I think. 37 38 MR. BERENDZEN: Yes, thank you, Mr. 39 Hopson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And to follow-up on 40 what you said about the polar bears, yes, they have 41 some trail cameras or what they call camera traps set 42 up on some of those islands and they have observed 43 polar bears predating some of the nests. So that's -- 44 yeah, that's a very good observation. 45 46 MR. REXFORD: Mr. Chair. 47 48 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Edward, Kaktovik. 49




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1 MR. REXFORD: Yes. Thank you, Steve, 2 for that. I know the eider study's kind of 3 controversial for our folks because we do egging on our 4 Barrier Islands on the corporation lands. That's why 5 we were hesitant to have you folks put cameras out 6 there because, you know, you guys could catch folks 7 egging also besides the animals. 8 9 And when you guys started this eider

10 study I was told that it was going to be a two or three 11 year study. Now I'm hearing it's going to be every 12 year forever. So what's the truth in that state -- 13 which statement is true? 14 15 Thank you. 16 17 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Rexford. 18 The study that was originally set up was going to be a 19 two or three year study. There has been a proposal now 20 and I guess from a scientific standpoint when people 21 study something and get answers sometimes it seems like 22 for every answer you get you come up with another two 23 or three questions. So there are more things that they 24 have learned about this that they're wanting to -- that 25 are connected to some of the impacts they've learned 26 from that first study. So, yes, they're proposing to 27 continue studying other aspects of that. And there is 28 another study proposed. So I think that's what you're 29 referring to. And, yes, we would like to go for 30 another two or three years on this second study. If 31 that's not acceptable then we would, you know, not make 32 a request for a permit. 33 34 But as far as the people egging on the 35 Barrier Islands, we understand that's a customary and 36 traditional practice. We have no problem with it. And 37 I think in our request for the permit we have 38 identified that we will -- if anybody is observed 39 egging in any of the photos that those cameras take we 40 will immediately delete them and we will not, you know, 41 pass that information on to anybody. That's really the 42 residents' privilege and prerogative and we don't want 43 to interfere with that at all. 44 45 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Eddie. 46 47 MR. REXFORD: One other question. 48 During the studies I know you guys put nets across the 49 nesting areas to capture eiders. Has there been any




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1 fatalities due to that netting ducks for flying in the 2 air? 3 4 MR. BERENDZEN: Not that I have ever 5 heard of. And the netting that I'm aware of is they 6 don't string up nets long terms, they actually have a 7 long handle on each end of the net and two people will 8 take that net, drop it down over a nesting duck and 9 then that will hold her, you know, very temporarily

10 until they can grab the duck and they remove the net. 11 But I'm not aware of any nets being strung up like by 12 structures that are in place for any length of time. 13 It's just handheld net, a person on each end that does 14 it the way I described. 15 16 MR. REXFORD: Thank you for that 17 information. That's good to know because we thought 18 they was stringing out nets across the Barrier Islands. 19 20 Thank you. 21 22 MR. BERENDZEN: And thank you for 23 asking, I'm glad we can explain whenever there's 24 anything unclear like that. And sorry that we weren't 25 clear previously when that was explained. 26 27 The next topic that I've got is about 28 land bird monitoring. There has been a national 29 breeding bird survey for North America that looks at 30 trends of all bird species across North American. And 31 we have been participating in that survey for years. 32 That one -- that survey is done on the south side of 33 the Brooks Range just, but in the upper reaches of the 34 Coleen River drainage. And just another one that has 35 been ongoing and monitors the trends of different bird 36 species all across North America. So this is just our 37 contribution to that very broad study that looks pretty 38 much at the entire continent. 39 40 One more staffing change that I want to 41 mention is we identified that we really needed to have 42 somebody spend -- coordinate -- available to coordinate 43 more with our counterparts in Kaktovik. We hired a 44 person to function as a liaison. Will Wiese is our 45 person that we hired. He's spending several months of 46 the year in Kaktovik and has been working with the 47 local residents up there. And that has I think helped 48 improve the communications and we want to do everything 49 we can to improve those communications and make sure




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1 that there's more clarity in what we're doing and, you 2 know, more transparency overall of things that are 3 going on. 4 5 My last topic is commercial permits 6 which we have some people might say more than we want 7 to deal with and a lot of headaches sometimes related 8 to those. But probably the biggest one that is I think 9 relevant to the Arctic Slope or to this group is the

10 polar bear viewing permits. Those are based or the 11 polar bear viewing is based out of Kaktovik and we only 12 have jurisdiction of activities on the water, we do not 13 have any jurisdiction whatsoever on Barter Island 14 itself. But because the polar bear viewing is much 15 safer for the bears and the visitors and there's a lot 16 of demand for it, it's safer on -- viewing it from -- 17 viewing them from the water by boat, that's how most of 18 the -- much of the viewing is done. There's still 19 viewing done on the land in -- on Barter Island, but 20 again we don't have any jurisdiction or authority over 21 that. 22 23 But we've -- the demand for the polar 24 bear viewing has increased exponentially since about 25 2009. And so in 2016 we realized we had to somehow try 26 to cut that off because there were problems developing 27 with competition for seats on airplanes and local 28 residents were having a tough time getting seats on 29 airplanes a lot of times. And we -- we've recognized 30 that we have to somehow try to cut back on that. We 31 froze the amount of guide permits we were issuing and 32 underwent a process to restructure how we issue those 33 permits. And we have been working closely with the 34 community, the different government entities in the 35 community to try to get more input into what the 36 biggest problems are, what are some solutions, how can 37 we work together to resolve the conflicts we've got and 38 try to -- we understand there's going to continue being 39 a demand for polar bear viewing so how can we make that 40 -- allow that to occur yet not have it to be a burden 41 on the local community. And we're trying to come up 42 with a process that will meet those needs. 43 44 And we do have -- we've brought some 45 outside professional people in as contractors to help 46 us with that. We think we have a plan pretty much 47 firmed up and we're moving forward with that. We will 48 be in a couple weeks in Kaktovik again to present this 49 plan. We were there a few weeks ago to -- kind of a




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1 final run through options and getting last -- you know, 2 last ideas and suggestions from residents. And so we 3 hope to, you know, come up with a plan that will 4 minimize the impacts on the community, ensure that 5 there are seats on commercial air flights and hopefully 6 not cause any..... 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Steve, I have a 9 little thing on that. Either last year or year before,

10 you know, we had complaints come to the Borough as 11 well. We sent enforcement agents out there to try to 12 assess what was going. The result was several 13 violation notices were issues for lack of North Slope 14 Borough permits. They really require any commercial 15 operator to have a zoning permit in conducting these 16 activities. And I think it's important message for 17 applicants to do these things to make sure they seek 18 all appropriate authorizations including if they're 19 going to be on private lands because that was one of 20 the concerns that was raised as well. Some of the 21 activities that may have gone on to KIC lands without 22 prior approval or arrangements to work with the major 23 landowners on access issues. 24 25 In addition to that it would be 26 important for us, I know we couldn't attend the last 27 meeting because we're -- we just couldn't make it, I 28 tried to get staff committed to that, for various 29 different reasons we couldn't attend. But if we could 30 continue to reach out to our land management staff at 31 the Borough and we will continue to try to attend these 32 things because they're important as well to the local 33 government, to the Borough to make sure. Sometimes 34 these permits get elevated and require a public hearing 35 based on community concerns. And we haven't done that 36 to date, but there might be a time that we have 37 substantial comments that will require a permit to be 38 elevated in bringing the Planning Commission under a 39 public hearing to hear the community concerns. 40 41 Anyway I thought it was important to 42 mention that. 43 44 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman. 45 46 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 47 William. 48 49 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.




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And in reference to the Borough



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1 The 16 permits for recreational guide businesses and 2 you issue these permits approve these permits? 3 4 MR. BERENDZEN: Yes, we do, Mr. Hopson. 5 6 MR. HOPSON: And I really have to say 7 something about that. 80 percent of our people, maybe 8 more, depend solely on Native foods, the resources that 9 are here. And sometimes they're not enough. And why

10 they're not enough, a lot of it is pointed to 11 commercial hunters coming up here and deterring that 12 migration. And I have to say something about his. I 13 would really like to see you folks not issue any more 14 permits for commercial guiding. And that's a very 15 important thing because I've been with Fish and Game 16 and other commissions and that is a very hot topic when 17 you talk to any village, not just Kaktovik, but they 18 are harassed during the migration and the people are 19 not able to hunt them like they used to. 20 21 And I just wanted to speak on that. I 22 would like to see you folks not issue any more 23 commercial permits for sports hunting. This economy we 24 have is solely mostly subsistence way of life and that 25 shouldn't be bothered or -- because it affects 26 everyone, our children, our grandfathers. You know, 27 they have to eat too. And I have to say it, these 28 permits, aircraft, really disturb the way we hunt and 29 the way the caribou migrations go. 30 31 So I have to bring that out to your 32 folks. 33 34 Thank you very much. 35 36 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Hopson, 37 I appreciate that, your insights and I understand that 38 that is a concern. 39 40 And, Mr. Chair, in reference to some of 41 the points you made, we do appreciate the Borough 42 having more involvement with this planning process 43 because they have provided some good ideas and 44 insights. And, yeah, we -- it -- we felt it was 45 unfortunate that they couldn't make it to the last 46 meeting, but we will continue keeping in touch with 47 them and coordinating.




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apparently they were able to recognize land features



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1 permits, we specify in the permits we issue that 2 Borough permits might be required, you know, please 3 contact the Borough Planning Office or whichever office 4 and check or we -- something to that effect. I mean, 5 we acknowledge, we recognize that there are -- that you 6 require Borough permits so we advise them in the permit 7 that we issue. 8 9 So I just -- we're trying to cover our

10 bases that way and, you know, be as..... 11 12 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. 13 14 MR. BERENDZEN: .....consistent as we 15 can. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And thank you for 18 that. It's important because I've been to things like 19 the Big Game Services Board Meetings where some of 20 these guides, they're kind of like cowboys, not some of 21 those that are like 71 North, others like that that 22 work off of Umiat or at Happy Valley. And then when I 23 see them and when I'm at the Big Game Services Board 24 Meeting where they get their licensing and sometimes 25 they're getting sanctioned, over there is a good place 26 to watch them get fines and whatnot. But some of 27 them when -- because we try to do a Title IXX 28 presentation once in a while to the Big Game Services 29 Board meeting where all the guides that are working 30 that might be at the North Slope on the -- within our 31 boundaries get a little taste of regulatory environment 32 for the North Slope and try to give them a little. But 33 some of them have approached me and say once I get a 34 DNR permit or get a permit to do my guides in my 35 concession area, that's all I need. And they're very 36 cowboyish type attitudes, like pretty wild west gun 37 people or something. And it was kind of hard to deal 38 with some of those kind of folks, but we need all the 39 help we can get to make sure those folks play by all 40 the rule books there are. 41 42 And just for your information we were 43 conducting enforcement action on some that included 44 footage that went on the hunting channel, you know 45 where -- hunting channel, you can go watch caribou 46 hunts or moose hunts or ptarmigan hunts or geese hunts 47 and somebody reported to us, hey, they're hunting on 48 ASRC lands, did they ever get a permit for that. And




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reality shows which are fiction according to me. And



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1 and stuff and sure enough some of these guides think 2 they can go outside of their concession when they get a 3 bigger client especially like that's going to go on TV 4 and, you know, carouse enough to say well, we're going 5 to go over here where there's a lot of caribou and you 6 can shoot them all up. 7 8 So we do encounter enforcement issues on some 9 of these guides, just be aware of that.

10 11 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 12 Yeah, we also have issued permits for commercial 13 photography or videography and from what you're 14 describing there may have been a violation that we 15 would be very interested in ourselves because we -- you 16 know, we are supposed to know about any commercial 17 videography like that if they're using it that way. 18 And I think it would be very helpful for us to have 19 closer communications on some of those activities. 20 21 That's all I was planning to present. 22 If there are any questions I will do my best to answer 23 any of those. Vince is up here to help with any of 24 those as well. 25 26 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Any questions from 27 the Council to Steve and Vince? 28 29 MR. REXFORD: Mr. Chair. 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Eddie. 32 33 MR. REXFORD: Yes, I don't know if you 34 folks have an agreement with National Geographic on 35 shows that are produced in the Refuge. The one I'm 36 talking about is the show called the Last Alaskans 37 which is an insult to our community. Because in that 38 show they show the Refuge without our corporation lands 39 on the map, without our Native allotments on the map, 40 showing that we don't exist. And this show is about 41 homesteaders on the south side of the Brooks Range who 42 have homesteads and they're protected locations by Fish 43 and Wildlife from the public. So if you guys are 44 working with National Geographic that show is an insult 45 to our community. It shows we do not exist at all. 46 And I'm afraid that folks like in Washington, D.C., the 47 democrats and folks that are attacking us, they don't 48 even know we exist there because of shows like that,




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and give out any permits. And I had to bring that out,



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1 they portray they we do not exist. I think Fish and 2 Wildlife need to work with National Geographic to 3 correct this injustice to our community. 4 5 Thank you. 6 7 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Rexford. 8 Yes, we do issue a permit to the filming company that 9 produces that show, the last Alaskans. When they

10 requested the permit to do that they said they were -- 11 they assured us it would not be a reality TV show, they 12 said it would be a documentary. And they at the time 13 said they wanted to follow four -- four families that 14 were living on the Refuge most of the time. And, yes, 15 a permit was issued for that. 16 17 MR. REXFORD: Yeah, the reason I say 18 that is because folks in Washington D.C. like I said 19 right now they think the Gwitchens are in our country. 20 They don't see us as -- they don't recognize us as 21 living in the Refuge. And that need to be corrected 22 with help from you folks I believe since you're the 23 land manager of the Refuge. And that would be a big 24 help to inform the United States, Alaska and the world 25 because this is being portrayed out there to the whole 26 world I believe with that show. And it could be used 27 in the future for who knows, ethnic cleansing. The way 28 I see it people don't like us living in the Refuge and, 29 you know, I got suspicions of that show. And, you 30 know, that's got to be corrected to, you know, let the 31 whole world know we exist here. 32 33 Thank you. 34 35 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Rexford. 36 37 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman. 38 39 CHAIRMAN BROWER: William. 40 41 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 42 We have government entities doing all this work and to 43 this -- you know, from the presentations that we saw 44 from yesterday, today, I think an important part of the 45 process, you might be missing this, I have not seen an 46 entity of government agency even mention tribal 47 consultation. And I would like to see a lot of tribal 48 consultation before you bring out these presentations




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the polar bear viewing management it says that you have



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1 remember tribal consultation. We can do a government 2 to government agreement. So I just want to make sure 3 that you don't miss that part of where we stand as a 4 tribal government. And I'd like to see a lot more of 5 government to government consultation. 6 7 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 8 9 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, William.

10 11 You may continue. 12 13 MR. BERENDZEN: Thank you, Mr. Hopson. 14 We do conduct tribal government to government 15 consultation with the Native Village of Kaktovik and we 16 -- I guess the question could be asked of Mr. Rexford 17 if he feels that that's adequate. We try -- we try to 18 do as much as we can on any significant issues. But 19 that -- you know, I -- there may always be room for 20 improvement. 21 22 So thank you for mentioning that. 23 24 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Vince. Let me go to 25 Vince and then I'll go to Steve. 26 27 Go ahead, Vince. 28 29 MR. MATHEWS: No, I just want to 30 mention that we worked very hard to get this is on the 31 booklet on time, but due -- due to the furlough we 32 weren't able to. So please let us know if there is 33 something else that you would want in these summaries 34 or a particular topic in more depth. Because it -- we 35 want to get the message out. It was made clear to us 36 years ago that you as well as other groups want to know 37 what's going on on the Refuge. So please, if there's 38 any improvement on this either let Eva know or contact 39 one of us because there's a lot of effort that goes 40 into this and it's also put in a condensed format. So 41 if there's something that you want more in-depth on 42 then please let us know. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Vince. 45 46 Steve from Tikigaq. 47 48 MR. OOMITTUK: Yeah, on -- you know, on




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coming in as visitors, is there -- are they able to tax



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1 six out of the 15 polar bear viewing tour operators, 2 guide businesses that are owned and operated by local 3 residents which provided 53 percent of all visitors. 4 What kind of numbers are we looking at when -- 53 5 percent of what, how many visitors are coming in that 6 make 53 percent? 7 8 MR. BERENDZEN: I'm -- I've got to 9 apologize, I don't know the numbers. I know the

10 numbers have been increasing. I -- well over a 11 thousand visitors this last couple of years. But the 12 six local residents who are guides are boat viewing 13 guides, they -- they're the ones who provide the boat 14 viewing opportunities. We also permit other guides who 15 bring groups to Barter Island. And they're not guides 16 like the boat operators who take them on the water. 17 What we want to have is when a group visits Barter 18 Island we would like them to have somebody who's 19 providing some guidance on how they interact with 20 residents in the village, where they go, how -- safe 21 ways to get around to avoid polar bears. And I don't 22 think anybody wants visitors to have an encounter with 23 a -- a bad encounter with a polar bear when they didn't 24 expect it or walking around the village or outside the 25 village. So we have -- the other guides that we permit 26 are those who are providing those tour opportunities to 27 the groups that go up and -- up to Barter Island. 28 They're not -- they're not actually boat viewing 29 guides. The local residents are the boat viewing 30 guides. 31 32 Does that answer your question? 33 34 MR. OOMITTUK: What -- you know, you 35 give permits. What -- what's the going rate for a 36 permit to -- you know, you're going into Barter Island, 37 you know, does the city government or tribal government 38 receive any funding on this or, you know, you're giving 39 out permits to businesses that, you know, go into a 40 community, you know, that's very low income, you know, 41 and what gives you the right to give these permits for 42 visitors, non-residents to give tours, you know, within 43 the North Slope Borough. Do you have a business, does 44 -- do you go through the Borough also or what's -- you 45 know, I'm trying to understand this, you know, I -- so, 46 you know, I think the local government, Barter Island, 47 you're talking a thousand people, what kind of benefits 48 does the community have, you got a thousand people




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differences I think on what can be done.



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1 these people and get some funding out of them or just 2 the six operators that benefit out of 15? I mean, you 3 know -- you know, what's a permit, they pay us so much 4 for a permit from..... 5 6 MR. BERENDZEN: That's a very good 7 question or very good multiple questions. And that's 8 one of the reasons we're reviewing and revising the 9 plan, the management plan for the polar bear viewing

10 because there are some -- certainly some shortcomings 11 with how this process evolved. As far as us issuing 12 permits, when there's a commercial activity that starts 13 up we -- when we recognize that or determine that we 14 are obligated to permit that activity. So that's how 15 the permitting of these commercial activities occur. 16 The activities actually occurred before us doing any 17 permitting. We had to permit them as a result of 18 recognizing that they were occurring. 19 20 As far as the revenues for the local 21 village that's a very good point and that's been 22 brought up a lot. There are a couple of different 23 options suggested, one would be a tax as you mentioned. 24 And there currently is no tax on the polar bear viewing 25 operations or activities, but that's one thing that we 26 are definitely suggesting could be done. And we -- 27 when we meet with the village leadership in a couple of 28 weeks we hope to run that by as an option. Another -- 29 there have been other suggested options that are -- 30 essentially it's a tax. Every polar bear viewer who 31 goes up there would pay something to the community, 32 whether it's per person or per day, whatever basis, and 33 those are things we will discuss and try to come up 34 with the best solution that everybody agrees with. 35 36 But, yeah, very good points that you 37 make. 38 39 Thank you. 40 41 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I got a question. 42 And it's, you know, much like I think the city of 43 Barrow has a bed tax on the local hotels and I think 44 they just went through some rate adjustments and stuff. 45 And I think they tax cigarettes, you know, to create 46 money. I don't know what the capability is for maybe a 47 second class city. I don't know if Barrow is a first 48 class city or a second class city, but there's some




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Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, why are we permitting



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1 The other thing you said is it like a 2 thousand visitors annually or..... 3 4 MR. BERENDZEN: I think it's well over 5 a thousand visitors the last couple years. 6 7 CHAIRMAN BROWER: It seems to me 8 there's an opportunity there. Like if somebody had a 9 corporation or the city or had their own airplane and

10 it went back and forth from Fairbanks to Kaktovik or 11 Deadhorse, seems to me a thousand annually would be 12 well sufficient to be commercially viable to have an 13 operation to cater to that to alleviate some of the 14 issues of overcrowding on the commercial flights. You 15 know, it just -- or some sort of a grant to be able to 16 do something like that to alleviate this stuff. 17 18 Roy, I got -- we got Roy raising his 19 hand back there. 20 21 MR. NAGEAK: Roy Nageak with BLM, 22 natural resource specialist for NPRA. You're 23 addressing a problem that BLM had to address in the 24 different permits that are available on the North 25 Slope. And it was the different Federal agencies, you 26 know who I'm talking about, needs to work on the NPRA 27 like USDA, Corps of Engineers, so many different 28 agencies that have their own way of doing work. And 29 we've been trying to address a lot of problems with the 30 Bureau of Land Management. And when we see some of the 31 permit traders or different Federal agencies and the 32 comments that we sometimes hear is that we -- we're -- 33 we don't need no permits from BLM, we're a Federal 34 government agency. And then they do what they want to 35 do in NPRA because some of their work has to be done in 36 Federal lands. 37 And when we're talking about permits 38 and just like when I saw the map being presented by our 39 -- by our people in the summertime in Nuiqsut, most of 40 the complaints that we get are from air traffic during 41 the summer. And you're hitting on a spot where the 42 North Slope is becoming a attracted wildlife area where 43 they could see hundreds of thousands of caribou 44 migrating. And people love to see those. And there's 45 eco-tourism that is happening that is impacting the 46 caribou, impacting the wildlife. And BLM in trying to 47 manage NPRA, he's just talking about permits being 48 given to different entities. But that when we see




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lower 48 or the great nation as a whole need the energy



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1 a lot of activity when it's a Refuge for animals and 2 for the people who have lived here for hundreds and 3 thousands of years. 4 5 One time -- that's one of my favorite 6 programs. They do fall moose hunting every time 7 they're hunting for moose, one family, on the south 8 side. And one time one of the guys with a Native wife, 9 I saw him went into a site and he says I don't know,

10 all these people that get dropped off to do moose 11 hunting and they leave their trash and nobody seems 12 like monitoring them. And I have heard when people go 13 downriver in ANWR a lot of the Natives that have free 14 ANWR subsistence hunting cabins, ordinary Native 15 allotments, the cabins that they use for ice fishing 16 inside ANWR are being utilized by people that have 17 permits to go down the river. 18 19 And then overall like I stated that 80 20 percent is Federal land and maybe 20 percent statewide, 21 but they have control over permits too. Heck with it 22 if it's Federal or State. And we heard that report 23 last night. And for some reason I kept hearing North 24 Slope this, North Slope that, are more restricted not 25 like the southern slope. And it's so perfect when we 26 hear that and like he mentioned it's like there's a 27 different permitting system or different hunting limits 28 for the North Slope. And one of the reasons why I'm 29 going towards that is that if ANWR opens and the 30 financial resources that they will get out of it and 31 we've seen this already, 50 percent of it will go to 32 the Federal government and 50 percent will go to the 33 State. And we need to find out since we're the ones 34 that are being impacted by such activity especially 35 around Nuiqsut, it's like Florida being the southern 36 state of Alaska and then North Dakota where the Natives 37 were fighting a pipeline going through their land. 38 It's like we're not like that. But we see these rules 39 and regulations and the overall coverage of the State 40 having the ability to control the moose and the 41 caribou, but at the same time have the Federal 42 government control some of the things that are 43 happening in their land. 44 45 And we always have these healthy 46 discussion. Gordon is right. And we're always trying 47 to assert ourselves that we've been here way before 48 anybody has, but we just grin and bear it. Because the




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And that's why their boundaries are south. And these



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1 from ANWR and need the energy from NPRA. But we're in 2 the front then, we're impacted. But still North Slope 3 is different from the southern end of ANWR. ANWR as a 4 whole legally wildlife Refuge, nobody should hunt in 5 ANWR expect for the people that live there. And when I 6 see each family trying to catch a moose and last week 7 they were all trying to catch moose, each Last Alaskans 8 per se had different cabins on the southern side, one 9 household would get like two caribous -- two moose in

10 the spring and falltime. And then on the North Slope, 11 no, the moose population is so low you can't. 12 13 There's different ways to look at it, 14 but if there's going to be development in such a way 15 that impacts our people then somehow the formula for 16 the financial resources goal they need to get a closer 17 look. For example in NPRA so many million dollars were 18 spent trying to cement or close off those oil well pits 19 from early exploration. Right now in Prudhoe Bay there 20 are over 200 abandoned oil wells. In a way some 21 smaller oil company, they were given or they bought 22 them out -- they bought it from the bigger oil 23 companies and it's a way like releasing their 24 responsibility for over 200 wellheads. After they 25 leave who's going to take care of them, Federal 26 government or do they need to start planning for with 27 the 50 percent of ANWR or whatever they get from NPRA. 28 Need to include a formula to clean it up afterwards 29 because we know that already the responsibility of 30 those abandoned wells are being turned over to 31 different groups other than the bigger well financial 32 well field operators. 33 34 When nothing is allowed with the power 35 that is given to the Bureau of Land Management, which 36 we manage the land NPRA, and looks like for the 37 development because it's under new services managed by 38 BLM because it's subservice. But the permitting 39 system, each Federal agency has different ways or 40 different permits that they give out and the State 41 overall just because of the caribou and the moose that 42 they manage. I like the way the North Slope Borough is 43 going with their comprehensive plans and the North 44 Slope Borough as a whole. The way that it was created 45 was created because those are the lands that the North 46 Slope area people had lived on through hundreds and 47 thousands of years, the boundaries that were utilized 48 for lands that were utilized by the Inupiaq people.




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use the high tech. And I just want to point out that



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1 are boundaries, but the way that the State manage the 2 renewable resources is so different with different 3 units and I kept hearing North Slope has different 4 because they don't see much in the North Slope, but we 5 know where the caribou are and where they travel. And 6 the migration pattern of the Porcupine herd have 7 changed drastically. 8 9 And for us that are trying to work and

10 be responsive to the impacted people I'm glad because 11 we get a different feel for the needs of our people and 12 to work with them and that's all we're asking is to 13 work with the other Federal agencies that have -- that 14 give out permits. And for the State, I don't know how 15 they're operating the way the government says that 16 they're out of money and still trying to regulate the 17 caribou and the moose. And there's got to be a way 18 that the North Slope Borough could have that 19 responsibility. The way I see it and the way the 20 governor's saying the State has no way to operate what 21 the State needs to operate, they don't have the money. 22 23 And the biggest concern like I state 24 every time the Federal agencies that are responsive to 25 meetings like these, there's one big one that's missing 26 and that's FAA who have the control over the space and 27 where tons of planes are having tourism. I saw little 28 two old ladies in Prudhoe when I landed there and says 29 where the airport, we're renting an airplane so we 30 could see that great big herd of caribou migrating 31 around the North Slope. And I said I can't help you, I 32 don't want to help you because it impacts the caribou 33 herd. But I already -- none of the Federal agencies 34 that work on the North Slope don't have authority over 35 FAA and that's the biggest impact is air traffic. And 36 any hunter with an airplane that has floats on it could 37 go anywhere on the North Slope to hunt, there's no 38 control. 39 40 But we don't know, we don't know, it's 41 so easy people track airplanes all over the North 42 Slope, they learned how to use their little computers 43 in their hand. I don't see anybody talking about the 44 high tech. And I saw the spike of the herd on the last 45 screen last year, last couple years is when the State 46 or I don't -- forgotten which government it was, State 47 or national, that started using high tech, high 48 technology. And that's a given, don't use the old way,




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1 in NPRA and the way the oil companies with the 2 satellite how they have improve rather than all the 3 well rigs all scattered maybe a mile apart, the 4 satellite system is working. And when I see reports 5 from ConocoPhillips they're using high tech -- 6 technology to lessen their costs. 7 8 And I think the Federal government so 9 the way that we track activity on the North Slope could

10 lessen the impacts, whether it's the State or the 11 Federal government, they need to use high tech too 12 because some of our kids are leaving us behind, it's 13 the same thing. Technology is leaving a lot of the 14 Federal government and State government behind and 15 there's so many high tech people that could land 16 anywhere they want just by the touch of a button and 17 they'll be there. 18 19 I just want to point that out because 20 we're always being impacted and BLM is always being 21 blamed. And there's so many Federal agencies. I just 22 want to point that out. They're on the right track 23 with starting a good relationship with Kaktovik. 24 25 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Roy. 26 27 Any other further questions to ANWR. 28 29 (No comments) 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Hearing none, you 32 guys want to take a lunch break? We're going to take 33 some lunch breaks here and we know that it's way past 34 due here. And always enjoy the long words of Roy and 35 it's always good. 36 37 And thank you very much, Steve and 38 Vince. And you guys want to take a recess until 2:00 39 o'clock. 40 41 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, if 42 I may. Because the Council does need to convene early 43 today, we're a little short on the day today, it would 44 be possible to take a one hour lunch break and come 45 back at..... 46 47 CHAIRMAN BROWER: 2:00 o'clock? 48 49 MS. PATTON: .....1:45. We do.....




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. What's 2 the wish of the Council. 3 4 MR. OOMITTUK: So moved. Recess until 5 1:45. 6 7 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. We're on 8 lunch break. 1:45. 9

10 (Off record) 11 12 (On record) 13 14 MS. PATTON: .....apology to the 15 management of migratory birds. So the video may be 16 hard for those on teleconference to hear, but that 17 video will be about five minutes long and then we'll 18 address the Council after that. So we're just going to 19 be on standby for a little bit until we convene our 20 Council members. 21 22 Thank you. 23 24 (Video played for Council) 25 26 MS. PATTON: .....the interruption. We 27 had the cutoff there with the beeping in the 28 background. So we're reconnected now. And just to let 29 folks on teleconference know we're going to be watching 30 a video and we don't have a mechanism to route the 31 sound through our speaker system so you likely won't be 32 able to hear the video, but then we'll be addressing 33 the Council afterwards. 34 35 So I think we have all our Council 36 members with us here and so welcome here and we'll 37 start the video. 38 39 Thank you. 40 41 (Video played for Council) 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I think that video as 44 short as it kind of is and kind of speaks to a lot of 45 people of some of the hardships we've gone through over 46 time and some of the turmoil that kind of ensued for a 47 long while. 48 49 But, thank you.




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1 MR. PERRY: So again I'll introduce 2 myself, my name's Phillip Perry, I work for Fish and 3 Game. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to 4 present the apology and willing to field any questions 5 you have or comments at this point. 6 7 Thanks. 8 9 CHAIRMAN BROWER: What's the wish of

10 the Council. There was an apology video. I know 11 William -- I think he mentioned earlier he may have 12 been one of the youngest cited during those times from 13 here right on the North Slope with some of the accounts 14 that he brought forth was interesting and startling. 15 16 Any questions for ADF&G and Fish and 17 Wildlife Service folks. 18 19 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman. 20 21 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 22 William Hopson, Utqiagvik. 23 24 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 25 I read this letter yesterday twice. You know, I get 26 it, it's an apology, you know, 50 years late. It's an 27 apology. Maybe you want to move forward in some other 28 stuff in our resources. We need to begin to start 29 doing it right. And I've said this many times to 30 biologists, researchers, doctor of veterinary medicine. 31 They come up to our land and I've noticed it, 50 years 32 of experience listening to the folks and one thing I 33 noted down yesterday all of you I know researchers, 34 biologists, everyone involved, I respect you, your 35 profession. I know your directives are not yours, but 36 the government's. And I respect each and every one of 37 you for the work you do. I just want to bring out I 38 know all of you can look, but you don't see. All of 39 you can hear, but you don't listen. I'm not directing 40 those, I'm just saying that it has been what's going on 41 it seem like forever. But I accept the apology for 42 myself. When the time comes you'll have a big 43 audience, you'll get remarks from people and I just 44 hope that it never happens again in my lifetime. 45 46 So I just wanted to say that. 47 48 Thank you. 49




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, William. 2 3 Any other comments on the apology. 4 5 (No comments) 6 7 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And I also want to 8 say thank you and maybe I was too young, you know, at 9 the time, but we sure felt it too. I mean, there's

10 other things that's happened to us. I can remember 11 either 1969 or '70s where they were giving us beef, one 12 little piece of beef meat and say here's your food for 13 the year. And by the way quit hunting caribou. I 14 mean, they did that to us too. I can remember that. 15 They didn't gave you beef every day. They gave you one 16 dinner and say here's your replacement and that's what 17 you're worth. And by the way you can't hunt any more 18 caribou. Issues like that, they come to my mind, some 19 of the things we endured up here. 20 21 But like William said I think the big 22 audience is coming. And it would be important. And I 23 think you're already coordinating maybe with leadership 24 up in the Arctic up here to look at that. 25 26 Thank you. 27 28 MR. PERRY: Thank you, Mr. Chair and 29 Mr. Hopson. I would like to also add that you make a 30 good point, Mr. Hopson, that people have listened real 31 well, but there were some good educators among 32 yourselves and your forefathers who did get some people 33 to listen and that's how this apology came about. We 34 did over time listen and like I said good people among 35 you that educated and communicated and that was very 36 helpful and we did get a better sense of that history 37 and the things that were done and the -- you know, the 38 things that were wrong about that. And we sincerely 39 apologize for that. And appreciate you taking the time 40 to hear us out on this. 41 42 MR. HOPSON: You're welcome finally. 43 44 MR. OOMITTUK: Mr. Chair. 45 46 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yes, go ahead, Steve. 47 48 MR. OOMITTUK: Yes, I do accept your 49 apology and we'll bring it back to our communities and




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1 to our tribal council, the city -- municipality there 2 and report to their -- they've got a meeting this 3 upcoming month. 4 5 Thank you. 6 7 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. I think 8 we're past that one. And on the agenda I'm going to 9 ask Madame Coordinator what should we take up next.

10 11 MS. PATTON: Thank you, Mr. Chair and 12 Council. Next on our agenda was the Barrow Field 13 Office, Fish and Wildlife Service. We have Ernest 14 Nageak and he has a couple flyers too I've got. I'll 15 hand those out. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. Ernest, 18 local Barrow Field Office, Fish and Feathers. 19 20 MR. E. NAGEAK: To all the new members, 21 good to see my uncle Edward from Kaktovik and other 22 relatives that I may know. You know, I'm Ernest 23 Nageak, was born and raised in Barrow. I -- out of 24 high school I worked with the State Fish and Game, I 25 did all the photo censuses, I did help capture the 26 caribou and put collars on them also. And I moved over 27 to the North Slope Borough Wildlife working with 28 harvest surveys, going to communities and going to 29 hunters, getting -- asking them what they catch and all 30 that. After that I move to the Native Village of 31 Barrow Wildlife Department, worked with some young 32 youth and got them back out into the field. 33 34 And during that time, 2008, there were 35 these steller eiders that were shot and killed and left 36 on the side of the road and that got the Federal 37 government riled up and sent up law enforcement during 38 that time because, you know, all these incidents didn't 39 just happen 50 years ago, just 10 years ago we were 40 having similar things like the -- it was like a Barrow 41 duck-in point two all right. Because they were coming 42 up and telling us when we cannot hunt or, you know, the 43 curfew on the season. And a lot of things -- the led 44 shot especially we didn't know too much about it, you 45 know, 10, 15 years ago, but not knowing the affects on 46 that they would, you know, come up and ask if we had 47 duck stamps and, you know, we didn't know -- we didn't 48 grow up on buying duck stamps and we had to have duck 49 stamps while hunting and all that. They would check




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1 our shots, you know. 2 3 We were at a -- taught at a young age, 4 you know, when you're old enough your parents would 5 send you out with a box of shotguns and go out and hunt 6 ducks. And when I was there there would be these law 7 enforcements come up on you on both sides, walk up on 8 you unexpectedly and check what you caught, your shells 9 and all this and that. And it affected other youths,

10 they were scared to go out, you know, once they saw law 11 enforcement a lot of people would just drive off and 12 come back later. 13 14 So that's how the Barrow Field Office 15 started. 16 17 They had a big presence with, you know, 18 the protection of the steller eider, spectacled eiders. 19 We also look out for the yellow billed loon. So our 20 office focuses on those three bird species around here 21 and we also tag polar bear and tag walrus tusk at our 22 field office. But I just wanted to give background of 23 how our office formed. And I was at the tribal 24 government, you know, everybody would go to the MVB to 25 complain about all these law enforcement and new rules 26 and so I would have -- get the complaints and I would 27 have to go to the Barrow Field Office where they had 28 somebody from out of town trying to do all these out 29 reach. So and I decided to move over to Fish and 30 Wildlife Service just so we could sit down at the table 31 and hash things out because before they would already 32 just come up and tell us what and what we cannot do 33 without having any input. And that wasn't working out 34 10 years ago with the ducks. 35 36 So, you know, we do the steller eiders 37 which has been going on since like 1999. We're 38 probably on our 20th year with the Barrow eider 39 project. And they -- during that time the project's 40 been going on they've been having students from high 41 school or 14 on up to have part-time job in the 42 summertime. So last year -- last summer there was a 43 lot going on, there was a lot of activities for the 44 youth, for the -- lot of jobs. So we didn't have much 45 interest. We had -- we usually have nine or so 46 students, but last year we had three. Because it's a 47 lot of hard work, they go out on the tundra and look 48 for the steller or spectacled eider bird nest all week, 49 Monday through Sunday for like 30 days looking for pair




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1 surveys. So last year I just want to talk about update 2 on. It was the latest starting survey because there 3 was still lots of snow cover and cool temps end of May, 4 beginning of June. They documented 162 steller eiders 5 and 159 spectacled eiders in the pair survey. So they 6 go out and see if they're paired up and keep an eye on 7 if they're going to lay their eggs. 8 9 Snowy owls, the short eared owls and

10 the yagers (ph), they were seen in moderate numbers, 11 but with the study we tried to do predator control so 12 like the last five years we would go out, you know, and 13 take all the foxes out in the springtime that are 14 around town or the nesting grounds. But last -- this 15 past spring was the first year we didn't do that. I 16 don't know if you guys noticed an extra amount of foxes 17 in town or anything, I don't know if that played a 18 role, but we were taking a five year break on that 19 because the Borough mentioned that, you know, it's -- 20 we're not -- we didn't prove whether it was effective 21 or not. So we're going to take a five year break on 22 that fox trapping. We would hire students too to help 23 set fox traps out there. And also..... 24 25 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Could we ask 26 questions in the middle? 27 28 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yes. Feel free to ask. 29 30 CHAIRMAN BROWER: You know, I really 31 don't think you need to prove it was effective if they 32 are known predators. A fox will go after eggs, they 33 will go after these little broods, they will go after 34 flightless season, the molting period and quite frankly 35 because somebody says that it's not effective or 36 couldn't prove that it's effective, they're doing a 37 disservice saying that because almost every year we get 38 a rabies quarantine. 39 40 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. 41 42 CHAIRMAN BROWER: These are really 43 diseased up little things out there and if you get bit 44 from one of those, you know, I remember they used to 45 give you 12 shots in the stomach and -- for rabies. 46 And quite frankly they should be a different kind of 47 approach too. My father was a trapliner. While he 48 work really hard he would set traps up through (in 49 Inupiaq) and then from (in Inupiaq) put traps. And




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1 then they used to have a bounty back then for fox and 2 whatnot. I think it was like 15 bucks or 20 bucks. 3 That was a lot of money back then. If you got 30 of 4 those foxes, man, that was like a couple hundred bucks. 5 And you can go to the store and get groceries. Those 6 kind of things that you can get the trapping back in 7 order and things like that. It kind of helps to be an 8 incentive. But whether or not somebody says it's -- 9 was not -- you can't prove that it was effective, but

10 you can prove that we need to reduce the numbers 11 because foxes, we already know what they do and we've 12 been doing that for -- since the 1920s and there's 13 still millions of them. 14 15 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah, they mentioned 16 that before, you know, to get trappers out in the 17 wintertime, but, you know, they say you can wipe them 18 all out in the wintertime, but by the time spring comes 19 a whole new batch comes. So that's why we tried -- we 20 did the trapping in the spring and that -- by that time 21 the hair's all no good. And the Borough and the 22 mayor's staff and they -- you know, thought they was 23 giving the kids bad -- you know, bad mind set that way 24 or trapping these foxes when their furs are no good and 25 just wasting them. That's one of the other reasonings 26 behind that. 27 28 And we also had a -- trapped (in 29 Inupiaq) and we hire students to set traps for lemmings 30 to tag and see how the numbers are. Because they say 31 if there's a lot of lemmings then the yagers and (in 32 Inupiaq) or owls are going to eat the lemmings instead 33 of eggs. 34 We've also -- they're also trying out 35 new methods. They -- this past summer they tried out 36 on (in Inupiaq) their nest, they would put cover of 37 leaves over them to try to keep the owls from seeing 38 their nests and trying other methods like that. 39 40 And the steller eiders nest, there was 41 only -- there's low numbers, 12 nests were found and 42 only four were active like they were hatched and they 43 all failed, all nests failed. But we did -- they did 44 see a mom and ducklings, eight ducklings walking 45 alongside a freshwater lake road. So, that -- you 46 know, it shows that there was -- it failed, but we 47 observed a mother with eight chicklings, you know..... 48 49 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah.




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1 MR. E. NAGEAK: .....walking alongside 2 of the road. So that..... 3 4 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Just wanted to 5 express an observation. Before there was any 6 conservation activity going on, right, somewhere around 7 1998 maybe they started doing that because I remember 8 them coming to planning because we were doing 9 subdivision additions on block B and telling us we

10 needed to slow down on putting gravel down for roads 11 and to watch out for -- that was late 1990s. And one 12 of the things I heard talked about was there was no 13 enforcement back then on these birds, (in Inupiaq), 14 those ones. And (in Inupiaq) that's what I heard, that 15 these stellers and spectacled eiders were never in 16 numbers that rival king eiders, common eiders and 17 stuff, never could -- that was never -- it was just 18 traditional knowledge that they would nest here and 19 there and you would see them around, but they were 20 never in numbers. That the conservation effort would 21 even provide the means for them to turn as numerous as 22 common and king eiders because that's just the way it's 23 been. 24 25 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. 26 27 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And they were just 28 scattered here and there. I thought these 29 observations, you know, they were made by elders and 30 somebody making a decision about their needs that they 31 should be in high numbers like the (in Inupiaq), like 32 the (in Inupiaq) and whatnot. 33 34 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. 35 36 CHAIRMAN BROWER: It's just been that 37 way forever. I thought they're important things to 38 remind because it could almost be a frivolous 39 enforcement when these were never in numbers like that. 40 41 MS. KIPPI: Mr. Chair. 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Go ahead, Wanda. 44 45 MS. KIPPI: You had mentioned about the 46 lemmings and the owls. I don't -- I don't know if you 47 were here the last time I reported about lemmings and 48 owls in my area. During that time, that was about two, 49 three years ago, I had -- I had to -- I had gotten to




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1 see how it was from Barrow and Atqasuk with the 2 lemmings and the owls. During that one year I noticed 3 we had a lot of owls in our others and lots of (in 4 Inupiaq). There was (in Inupiaq) all over that year. 5 And that year the owls were eating all the (in Inupiaq) 6 after they knew them that fall or during -- through 7 almost the winter, I don't know how long. But the 8 following year we had -- I never see a owl that next 9 following spring or summer. Then I flew -- you know,

10 flying to Barrow for meetings or some other stuff I 11 would -- I finally -- I said wow, there's owls here. 12 And then you guys were seeing lemmings I think because 13 I had seen a few. So I think the lemmings population 14 went up here again and the owls came back. 15 16 So I notice that difference too. 17 18 So I just wanted to put that -- put 19 that out. 20 21 Thank you. 22 23 MR. E. NAGEAK: Thank you. And the -- 24 yeah, the scientists try to say or try to figure out if 25 there's a relationship, like if the birds know there's 26 a lot of (in Inupiaq) and they'll lay their eggs that 27 year. They lay -- we have good years every two or 28 three years, they go on cycles with the steller and the 29 bird nestings. 30 31 MS. KIPPI: Yeah, I think they do, the 32 lemmings and the owls, they -- they follow, they follow 33 the lemmings and the -- whatever they eat, you know. 34 35 Okay. Thank you. 36 37 CHAIRMAN BROWER: (In Inupiaq) 38 39 Thank you, Wanda. 40 41 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah, so that's some of 42 the numbers from last summer and this year we're going 43 to continue as in previous years. We usually get 10 or 44 12 volunteers from the lower 48 or all over the U.S. to 45 come up and volunteer for that project. We used to 46 have (in Inupiaq) working with us and she was doing 47 that program. We're not heavily actively recruiting, 48 but, you know, if you guys know any, you know, 49 enthusiastic students that want to walk out every day




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1 on the tundra for one month. And, you know, because 2 they go out and pair survey and can't miss a day during 3 that time. So if you guys have anybody keep in touch 4 with that. Also if you guys know anybody that's good 5 with outreach or education, you know, we could use 6 somebody to continue our outreach. 7 8 We did a lot of outreach which will 9 lead to the led shot were passed around. There's --

10 you know, we had a lot of outreach when the office 11 first opened, but the community heard it well and no 12 longer used led shot. But now that's been like five 13 years, seven years, since law enforcement been around 14 looking for led. I've been seeing some at AC once in a 15 while, I've got to remind them to take them off their 16 shelves because, you know, it's been zero tolerance for 17 led shells since 2000 so that's why we want to stress 18 to the hunters that if you buy led and law enforcement 19 sees you they're going to give you a fine. So we want 20 to make sure the hunters know and let the communities 21 know if you guys go back to your communities could you 22 guys please check your stores for led because it's -- 23 they're all like if you go Cabela's or those shotgun 24 shell places you can see led all over. You know, it's 25 hard to -- you have to ask them for steel or it's -- 26 you know, it's like steel is -- so it, you know, if -- 27 led shot they don't say led on the boxes, if you want 28 to be -- make sure you have -- they have to say steel 29 on the boxes. Or there's tungsten or different kind of 30 steel material out there for shells. 31 32 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Ernest, just an 33 observation. You know, for mayors' initiatives..... 34 35 MR. E. NAGEAK: Uh-huh. 36 37 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....it might be a 38 good way to communicate with the mayors' office because 39 they do have programs where they have barbecues for the 40 village..... 41 42 MR. E. NAGEAK: Uh-huh. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....and they give 45 out kites, maybe you could have kites at our (in 46 Inupiaq) too or something. Say don't shoot these. 47 48 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah, that's a good 49 idea.




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Kites made for (in 2 Inupiaq) or..... 3 4 MR. E. NAGEAK: Uh-huh. 5 6 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....or those (in 7 Inupiaq) and -- and be part of those mayors' 8 initiatives in all communities. They usually have one 9 for every community, right, and we used to be part of

10 that and make bird houses and let the little kids paint 11 bird houses while we're barbecuing hotdogs and stuff 12 for the community. And it was a healthy communities 13 initiative stuff. 14 15 MR. E. NAGEAK: Uh-huh. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: But led shot seems to 18 be healthy communities related too..... 19 20 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. 21 22 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....you know. 23 24 MR. E. NAGEAK: Because it could affect 25 the humans too and not just the birds, you know..... 26 27 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah. 28 29 MR. E. NAGEAK: .....the poisonous led. 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, I bet that 32 would be another good way of interacting..... 33 34 MR. E. NAGEAK: Uh-huh. 35 36 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....where there's -- 37 you're -- there's already things going on, it just 38 provides the synergy of..... 39 40 MR. E. NAGEAK: Good outreach too for 41 us. 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....getting out for 44 better outreach. 45 46 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah, thank you. 47 48 MS. KIPPI: Mr. Chair. 49




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Wanda. 2 3 MS. KIPPI: Thank you, Mr. Chair. On 4 the observation on (in Inupiaq) with the led. I have 5 noticed they -- they always run out at Napa because one 6 year or quite a few times I went to go buy -- tried to 7 go buy (in Inupiaq) and they didn't have no -- this 8 kind of (in Inupiaq), the steel, steel (in Inupiaq). 9 And they had -- they still had some -- those other kind

10 of (in Inupiaq). So it might be a good idea to go to 11 your local -- local places where they sell these (in 12 Inupiaq) and..... 13 14 MR. E. NAGEAK: Uh-huh. 15 16 MS. KIPPI: .....I know they know 17 because they had mentioned to me too about the steel, 18 that they had run out and that they have only those 19 other ones. So it might be a good idea if they try and 20 sell only the steel. 21 22 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. We had..... 23 24 MS. KIPPI: So..... 25 26 MR. E. NAGEAK: .....issues with some 27 of the store owners, you know. 28 29 MS. KIPPI: Yeah. 30 31 MR. E. NAGEAK: They say they're -- 32 because they're cheaper than steel, you know..... 33 34 MS. KIPPI: Yeah. 35 36 MR. E. NAGEAK: .....they buy them in 37 bulk and they say they -- I bought them in Cabela's, 38 why can't I sell them here, you know. But so we're -- 39 we work with some of the locals around here to take 40 their led and swap them out for steel. And we had that 41 program a few years back at Wildlife, bore open. 42 That's no longer..... 43 44 MS. KIPPI: And it's going to be hard 45 for the villages, you know, because they sell out so 46 quickly when it's (in Inupiaq) time..... 47 48 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. 49




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1 MS. KIPPI: .....for the ones that come 2 from the village and want to get some (in Inupiaq) to 3 go (in Inupiaq) and stuff, they run out. So it's going 4 to be hard again probably..... 5 6 MR. E. NAGEAK: Uh-huh. 7 8 MS. KIPPI: .....when they got -- they 9 can only get so much stock where they could keep their

10 (in Inupiaq), where they have them in a safe place, 11 they could only put so much in one -- one -- you know, 12 however big their storage is for (in Inupiaq), that's 13 all they can get. 14 15 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. 16 17 MS. KIPPI: Okay. Thank you. 18 19 MR. E. NAGEAK: So, yeah, if you guys 20 do have led would you let my supervisor, Lisa 21 Stellwright was supposed to be here, but she ended up 22 going to Nutok where they had so many cases of led she 23 had to go handle that issue. But if you guys feel like 24 there needs more outreach on the North Slope or a lot 25 of you guys' villages understand the bad affects of led 26 shot. 27 28 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I just..... 29 30 MR. E. NAGEAK: We just want to make 31 sure that..... 32 33 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....think there's 34 every year it should just be standard. That's what I 35 think. 36 37 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah. 38 39 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman. 40 41 CHAIRMAN BROWER: William. 42 43 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 44 Thank you for your report. I disagree with some of the 45 stuff you said about law enforcement. If they want to 46 get their foot in the door so bad that they break the 47 law themselves. It was law enforcement that killed 48 those steller eiders. I have evidence. I watched. So 49 a little caution to your law enforcement, we are




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1 watching you. I've had it, law enforcement killing 2 steller eiders in sight and I've been pretty quiet 3 about it. And I'm going to remain like that. 4 5 But I just want to bring it out. Law 6 enforcement, we are watching law enforcement. That's 7 all I had to say. 8 9 Thank you.

10 11 MR. E. NAGEAK. Thank you. And, you 12 know, good observation because, you know, sometimes 13 they show up without even telling me. You know, I see 14 them on the side of the road and like, hey, you 15 couldn't let me know you were coming up. And I even 16 got a fine myself, you know, for shooting a spectacled 17 eider flying with a flock of 50 going 40 miles an hour. 18 How am I going to tell which one has a pair of 19 sunglasses on because they're all female, brown. The 20 only way you could tell is mostly through the spec -- 21 the eyes. So I still have issues with law enforcement. 22 So, you know, that's why I'm still here. I wasn't 23 expecting to be working with the Fish and Wildlife 24 Service after hearing the history of the duck-in and, 25 you know, history of my fellow hunters getting cited or 26 even me getting cited for accidental -- they called it 27 flock shooting, shoot them by one by one. But, you 28 know, we were taught maximize our catch, you know, try 29 to catch as much as you can with that one bullet. 30 31 So that's why, you know, the Fish and 32 Wildlife Service is trying to make improvements. You 33 know, law enforcement doesn't just come up anymore just 34 to give out tickets, they come out and hangout. 35 Sometimes we have open house in the springtime to 36 welcome the birds and have a open house. After the 37 season, you know, serve duck and goose soup. And 38 recently the last two, three years our Fish and 39 Wildlife Service Department made it mandatory for 40 Federal employees to go through a Native relations 41 training, you know, moving Orville Lind and a bunch of 42 other Native employees with Fish and Wildlife Service 43 formed a class to give cultural breakdown to especially 44 law enforcement or Federal employees that go to rural 45 towns and don't know what to expect. We have elders 46 from Southeast, Southwest, Interior, North Slope and 47 it's a week long course at the Alaska Native Heritage 48 Center. We just had it last week. It was with the 49 whole Department of Interior, the BLM, BIA, Park




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1 Service, Fish and Wildlife Service. We had about 80 2 employees in that class. And it's -- you know, it was 3 an eye opener for a lot of the students because they 4 don't know what to expect in a lot of these small 5 towns. 6 7 So we're trying to improve our 8 relationships because now we can sit and hash out duck -- 9 you know, duck regulations or with the polar bear we

10 could give them our two cents. Now we're 11 communicating, having open communications instead of 12 one sided how it used to be for the last 50 years now. 13 We're making improvements so we'll continue to make 14 improvements, but, you know, one incident like, you 15 know, with law enforcement could ruin everything, you 16 know. So that's why we got to continue to work 17 together and make sure it works out for everybody. 18 And..... 19 20 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. 21 22 I think you got Carmen there waiting to 23 add to your presentation. 24 25 Carmen. 26 27 MS. DAGGETT: Thank you, Mr. Chair. So 28 when I first moved into this office here in Utqiagvik I 29 noticed that there was an awful lot of steel shot 30 around in my office. And I'm assuming it was probably 31 from that whole trading thing that was happening 32 before. So I'm still happy to trade out whatever steel 33 shot I have left in my office for -- but it means that 34 you have to come visit me. So, yeah, I definitely -- 35 I'm actually going to be out of the office doing field 36 work next week, but if you wanted to trade some steel 37 shot I'll -- we can work something out. I have both 38 .20 gauge and .12 gauge shot. So and I think it's two 39 and three-quarters if I'm not mistaken. 40 41 UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: I like number 2s. 42 43 MS. DAGGETT: I can't remember what 44 size it is other than what I just mentioned. But 45 you're welcome to come take a look at it. So and I 46 don't know -- at some point I know that there was a 47 steel shot clinic and maybe that's something we should 48 maybe think about doing again. 49




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1 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah, we used to do it 2 with the State a while back, but, yeah. 3 4 MS. DAGGETT: Uh-huh. 5 6 MR. E. NAGEAK: Well, you know, some 7 people would fly out and you could check your spread or 8 shoot clay pigeons. 9

10 MS. DAGGETT: Yeah. Yeah, I've got 11 plenty of clay pigeons too still. 12 13 MR. E. NAGEAK: Okay. 14 15 MS. DAGGETT: I've got a whole closest 16 of them. So, yeah, I'd love to work on that with you. 17 18 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah, thank you. 19 Because we ran out of that during that time we had 20 funding for the shells. 21 22 (In Inupiaq) 23 24 MS. DAGGETT: (In Inupiaq) 25 26 That's all. 27 28 MR. E. NAGEAK: And here's another news 29 about our office. You know, this year the Western 30 Alaska was mostly ice free and our polar bear 31 biologists and scientists usually base out of Pebble 32 Mine to do their scientific work, but that wasn't 33 working out. They tried to come up to Barrow last week 34 or two weeks okay to station here, but AWC told them no 35 because we're out on the ice getting ready for whaling 36 and we didn't want no air traffic disturbance. 37 38 And the other airplanes we have is only 39 from about three, four days worth when they fly in the 40 summertime from the Canadian border to -- with counting 41 polar bears that are on the beach during the summertime 42 or months of August, September and October. And I 43 think they -- planes might be flying two days around 44 here in mid June, trying to look for bears. 45 46 But other than that, that's what our 47 Barrow Field Office does around here. 48 49 Oh, and I want to mention for those




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1 people that put nets out in the Teshekpuk or the 2 rivers, the loon entanglement, you know, we try to make 3 sure the loons don't get entangled or try to protect 4 the loons from getting caught in nets. And if any 5 locals get loons caught in nets I could go out and help 6 them or get them untangled because it's a lot of work 7 and they got big beaks, you got to make sure you have 8 eye protection or maybe a sock to cover their eyes. 9 But, you know, you could find something to -- you know,

10 I tried to put a scarecrow in front of my net last 11 summer, but I don't know if that worked to keep the 12 loons away or maybe even extra floats to deter them 13 from the nests -- nets. So we might try to figure 14 something out for the barrier to get information on 15 loon entanglement on the yellow billed loons. 16 17 Any other questions for our office 18 or..... 19 20 MR. OOMITTUK: Mr. Chair. 21 22 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Steve, Point Hope. 23 24 MR. OOMITTUK: I want to thank you for 25 your report. You know, the -- back when -- in the NARL 26 days when it was open they had a animal facility over 27 there and I worked there from '77 to '81 until the 28 closure. And there was a lot of scientists coming up 29 from UAF, you know, doing studies on oxen and wolves, 30 squirrels, groundhogs, marmots. And, you know, and 31 hibernation and how they -- you know, how the squirrels 32 and marmots can drop their heart rate to one beat per 33 minute and then wake up from that, you know, how many 34 months later, you know, when springtime comes. And, 35 you know, back in the '70s they were looking at long 36 range travel, you know, a trip to Mars and putting a 37 human in a hibernation state and have them wake up 38 after a couple years, you know. 39 40 And these scientists, Mike Filo from 41 Fairbanks, you know, or Tom Albert, Eric Phoman was 42 with them, bunch of studies on the fox and the 43 lemmings. I don't know where all those reports are, 44 but I know that would be good information for, you 45 know, if you were doing studies, you know, with (in 46 Inupiaq) or foxes. But I know they did some studies 47 back then in the mid '70s at NARL. I was the animal 48 caretaker, I fed and cleaned their cages and worked 49 with the scientists on polar bears, wolves, wolverine,




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1 foxes, squirrels, groundhogs, weasels. You know, they 2 were doing a big research, but I don't know whatever 3 happened to all the documents, you know, what was the 4 population of the animals back then. And the wolves 5 were -- you know, how they don't dehydrate and just go 6 without water all winter, you know. And so they were 7 doing all kinds of studies in the '70s. 8 9 Thank you.

10 11 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Steve. 12 13 MR. E. NAGEAK: And we also work with 14 the Point Lay Tribal Council. The Fish and Wildlife 15 Service has a tribal wildlife grant where, you know, if 16 you -- any of your tribes want to apply for that to do 17 studies or do work with wildlife. Native Village of 18 Barrow had received one a couple years ago and lately 19 the -- Point Lay received that grant to monitor the 20 walrus haulout. So Fish and Wildlife Service travels 21 periodically to Point Lay to keep in contact with the 22 communities. And we don't keep in much contact with 23 Kaktovik because they fall under the Arctic Wildlife 24 Refuge, but if you guys have any concerns you could 25 always call our office or I could get a hold of whoever 26 to help you or to Point Hope or Atqasuk or Nuiqsut, you 27 know, I'm here to help with anything with the Fish and 28 Wildlife Service and the local hunters. 29 30 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Any other questions 31 to Mr. Nageak. 32 33 MR. REXFORD: Mr. Chair. 34 35 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Go ahead Kaktovik, 36 Eddie. 37 38 MR. REXFORD: Yes, this is a polar bear 39 question I have. I don't know if you could answer it 40 or is there someone from USGS or I don't know if Steve 41 would know this. But I read recently, I think it was 42 in the Sounder that there's going to be a polar bear 43 study in our area with the headquarters out of 44 Deadhorse. What study is that, is that counting bears 45 or does anybody have any information on that? I know 46 it's part of the -- managers would know that. 47 48 MR. BERENDZEN: Mr. Chair, Steve 49 Berendzen, Refuge manager, Arctic National Wildlife




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1 Refuge. No, Mr. Rexford, I'm not familiar with that 2 study, but I can certainly ask questions and try to get 3 an answer for you. 4 5 MR. REXFORD: Okay. Maybe Suzie Miller 6 would know. 7 8 MR. BERENDZEN: Good chance. Yeah, I 9 can try and check with her this afternoon if you like.

10 11 MR. REXFORD: Okay. Yeah, I kind of 12 read that and it caught me off guard. 13 14 MR. BERENDZEN: Okay. 15 16 MR. REXFORD: I didn't know what study 17 they were going to do in our area..... 18 19 MR. BERENDZEN: Okay. 20 21 MR. REXFORD: .....headquarters out of 22 Deadhorse. 23 24 MR. BERENDZEN: I will look into that. 25 Thank you. 26 27 MR. REXFORD: I know the Board is -- 28 hair samples at the bone piles, I don't know if it's 29 something similar to that or if the Borough or -- 30 haven't heard of anything on that side of things with 31 polar bears just other than the researchers that were 32 usually based out of Pebble Mine. They tried to be 33 based out of Barrow because they had no sea -- sea ice 34 over there that way. 35 36 So that's all I have with the polar 37 bears that I know of right now. 38 39 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Any other questions? 40 41 MR. REICH: Mr. Chair. 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Tad from Barrow. 44 45 MR. REICH: Yes, Ernest, I'd like to 46 thank you for your work and commend you for moving to 47 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. We don't 48 really see very many locals in that field. So with 49 that being said, yeah, education is a must for teaching




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1 our people, you know, the regulations. I know when I 2 go hunting or fishing down -- you know, down in 3 Southeast and stuff I always have to come and look at 4 this, you know. And then when I come home I put it 5 away. So nowadays I'm having to rely on it even for 6 our own region. So with that being said I just want to 7 thank you for all your help and Alaska Department of 8 Fish and Game. 9

10 Thank you. 11 12 MR. E. NAGEAK: Yeah, it was hard at 13 first, but, you know, very supportive community and, 14 you know, they've known it's needed to have somebody 15 local at least to share all the rules or whatever 16 they're trying to come up with. 17 18 Thank you. 19 20 CHAIRMAN BROWER: (In Inupiaq) 21 22 I echo some of the same sentiments as 23 Tad. (In Inupiaq) for, you know, serving your people 24 in this way on the Slope. 25 26 MS. KIPPI: Keep it up. 27 28 MR. E. NAGEAK: All right. 29 30 MS. KIPPI: Thank you. 31 32 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah. That leads us 33 down the line here. We did BLM already. Maybe it's 34 time for Gates of the Arctic National Park, maybe 35 that's Marcy's group. And I don't see Marcy here, but 36 I know she's online. 37 38 MS. OKADA: Thank you, Mr. Chair and 39 Council members. This is Marcy Okada, subsistence 40 coordinator for Gates of the Arctic National Park and 41 Preserve. And I'm going to share with you three 42 handouts that Eva might be passing around right now, 43 but I'll go ahead and start. 44 45 The Gates of the Arctic Subsistence 46 Resource Commission met on November 13th and 14th, 2018 47 in Fairbanks. Main discussions were focused on the 48 Ambler Mining District Road and various resource 49 updates. And additionally Dr. Todd Brinkman from UAF




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1 presented information on research projects which 2 investigated human development and environmental change 3 impacts to traditional harvest practices. The next 4 meeting is scheduled for April 16th to 17th in 5 Anaktuvuk Pass. 6 7 And Ester Hugo of Anaktuvuk Pass was 8 originally appointed to our SRC by the North Slope RAC. 9 And she's no longer on the North Slope RAC, but the

10 North Slope Fish and Game Advisory Committee which she 11 participates in can also appoint her to our Subsistence 12 Resource Commission. And they'll be meeting in June 13 and we're submitting an appointment letter for Ester. 14 15 Moving along to a brown bear study. 16 It's a brown bear disease assessment study that was 17 recently published sharing results looking at the 18 exposure of Alaska brown bears to bacterial, viral and 19 parasitic agents. Results indicate that the bears had 20 at some point in their lives been exposed to 21 toxoplasmosis, tularemia, brucellosis, leptospirosis, 22 canine distemper, canine parvo and canine adenovirus. 23 In general though levels of exposure to these pathogens 24 are fairly low in the Gates of the Arctic brown bear 25 population. 26 27 A dall sheep study was also conducted 28 and it explored the impacts of weather conditions and 29 adverse weather events on dall sheep throughout their 30 latitudinal range in Alaska and assess lamb production 31 and population trend in relation to the end of the 32 continuous snow season as a measure of spring onset. 33 In 2013 spring onset was extraordinarily late providing 34 an opportunity to directly assess the impacts of 35 variability in weather on sheep population. In 2013 36 event the -- the 2013 event was associated with 40 to 37 70 percent declines in the overall sheep numbers in 38 Arctic areas. Overall results suggest that expected 39 increases in adverse weather events may have direct 40 lasting impacts on dall sheep populations and that 41 these impacts can be most extreme for sheep populations 42 occurring at northern range limits. 43 44 And I know I'm going pretty fast, but 45 if anybody has any questions on this particular handout 46 I can go ahead and take them. 47 48 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Any questions on the 49 bear study, dall sheep study, subsistence that Marcy




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1 has talked about? 2 3 (No comments) 4 5 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And you said 6 something to the effect that a percentage, 40 to 70 7 percent decline and that was related to adverse weather 8 conditions whether that was warming and then getting 9 cold again or what are we talking about?

10 11 MS. OKADA: So the 2013 event in Gates 12 of the Arctic that affected the sheep population was -- 13 it was in May and it was a rain on snow event that 14 affected the sheep because they -- they drop their 15 lambs or they give birth to their lambs in May. So 16 that weather event basically caused a lot of mortality 17 in the lamb pop or in the sheep population that year. 18 19 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And that drop in that 20 amount affected the overall population to a number of 21 years to follow? 22 23 MS. OKADA: The 2014 spring was pretty 24 harsh as well. And from 2015 onwards populations are 25 slowly starting to recover. And the next handout 26 shares just the survey results from the 2018 survey or 27 the last survey -- last year's survey which I could 28 provide an update on just sharing how two sub- 29 populations are doing in Gates of the Arctic. 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Continue. I don't 32 see any questions yet. 33 34 MS. OKADA: Okay. So the next handout 35 shares information about the 2018 dall sheep survey. 36 The Park Service conducted an aerial survey for dall 37 sheep in Gates of the Arctic Park and Preserve between 38 July 2nd and 7th. This survey covered areas around 39 Anaktuvuk Pass and the Itkillik Preserve which includes 40 portions of game management units 24A, 24B, 26A and 41 26B. The population estimates are approximately stable 42 when compared to the previous couple of years. The 43 lamb to ewe like ratio in both subareas is 44 approximately average, but in the Itkillik it is 45 potentially low. We will continue to survey -- to 46 conduct surveys in these two study areas annually 47 because the Itkillik is a long term data set and the 48 Anaktuvuk Pass area has an important subsistence value. 49 As part of a five year rotation in 2020, the survey




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1 area will be expanded to cover almost all of the Park 2 and Preserves. 3 4 And unfortunately we currently -- our 5 dall sheep biologist position is currently vacant and 6 we're hoping to fill it by this coming September. 7 8 And I can try and answer questions if 9 folks have them, but I'm not the expert on this partic --

10 on these surveys. 11 12 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Continue. I don't 13 see anybody raising their hand just yet. 14 15 MS. OKADA: Okay. And the last handout 16 is on the Ambler Mining District Road. Gates of the 17 Arctic is required to do an environmental and economic 18 analysis. And the impact assessment portion of the 19 environmental and economic analysis is nearing 20 completion. This is a critical chapter in which 21 information gained from public input and data from 22 subject matter experts is used to evaluate impacts of 23 each of the two proposed routes that would be going 24 through Park Service lands. There was an either/or, 25 it's -- the choice -- the decision would be made 26 between either of the two routes. 27 28 The environmental, social and economic 29 impacts to resources and rural and traditional 30 lifestyles including subsistence activities will be 31 examined. But impacts we are covering in the 32 environmental and economic analysis are caribou, fish, 33 subsistence, permafrost, hydrology, wetlands, 34 archeology, visitor experience and wild and scenic 35 rivers and water quality. Results from the impact 36 assessment will be used to determine the recommended 37 route across Park Service lands and to develop permit 38 requirements to minimize adverse affects. If you have 39 input regarding whether we captured the most 40 significant impact topics for this task please let us 41 know by contacting us. 42 43 So the EEA is scheduled to be 44 distributed to the public this mid July and it will be 45 open for a 60 day comment period. 46 47 Many of the questions from our rural 48 communities -- many of the concerns from our rural 49 communities is regarding public access. So currently




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1 the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority 2 right of way permit application states that access to 3 the road would be controlled and primarily limited to 4 mining related industrial uses although some commercial 5 uses may be allowed under a permit process. The 6 application is being reviewed in that context. If 7 there is a request for public access in the future the 8 National Park Service will treat it as a new 9 undertaking and conduct an appropriate level of review

10 at that time. 11 12 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I do have a question. 13 14 MS. OKADA: And so that was just a -- 15 oh, go ahead. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah. On the access 18 primarily related to the industrial mining, is there an 19 ability to have the resident access for those 20 communities that would be in its wake. That I remember 21 there used to -- before the Dalton Highway was a public 22 access it was by permit if you were a resident and some 23 -- by permit for commercial and then off limits to 24 public. Because I remember about 1987 I got a permit 25 to go on it from DOT to get on the Dalton Highway and 26 drive it down that way. Because I -- I remember it 27 clearly because I went to an Alabama concert in 28 Fairbanks. 29 30 And that..... 31 32 MS. OKADA: And so the communities -- 33 oh, go ahead, Mr. Chair. 34 35 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I'm just asking 36 because it sounds like it would be limited access to 37 primary industrial operations and it seems to me there 38 was an ability for those residents and communities that 39 would be in its wake that they should be afforded the 40 residents access and -- to those communities, like you 41 had to be a resident of that community. And it was 42 that way on the haul road that you had to be a North 43 Slope resident even to get a permit to get on the haul 44 road back in the day. 45 46 MS. OKADA: Currently the permit 47 application just states that it'll be -- it'll be an 48 industrial use road. And I know the upper Kobuk 49 communities of Ambler, Shungnak, Kobuk, they've been




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1 having discussions about the possibility of it being a 2 permitted road for them to be able to -- for folks in 3 those communities to be able to use it. And I think 4 those discussions are ongoing. But as of right now for 5 the Park Service portion of the lands the right of way 6 permit application fully states that it'll be an 7 industrial road only. 8 9 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you. I thought

10 it was a good thing to add because nowadays on the 11 North Slope because of the way things are for the last 12 40 years, communities are expressing connectivity. And 13 with the unreliability of air transportation, the high 14 cost of doing things an alternative transportation 15 planning is starting to ensue on the North Slope. And 16 I think it would be important for those communities to 17 do this kind of train of thought and for their own 18 economic -- I often hear very high cost of fuels and 19 stuff for that part of the -- that part of the Alaska 20 area and seems to me that a road that goes deep into 21 their country and the ability to change the dynamics of 22 energy cost would be important to them. 23 24 Thank you. 25 26 MS. OKADA: And if there are no other 27 questions, Mr. Chair and Council members, thank you for 28 your time. 29 30 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Marcy. 31 And now we'll go down the agenda, see where we are. 32 Looks like Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 33 34 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, I 35 believe we got most of what Carmen was going to present 36 done yesterday. And..... 37 38 CHAIRMAN BROWER: (Indiscernible - away 39 from microphone)..... 40 41 MS. PATTON: I know. And..... 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And we've got to pray 44 for Carmen because they got a big fiscal gap and we 45 don't know the -- if they'll sacrifice her job soon. 46 47 MS. PATTON: We do have another comment 48 from our ADF&G fisheries biologist. 49




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. ADF&G. 2 3 MR. SCANLON: For the record Brendan 4 Scanlon, Department of Fish and Game. I just wanted to 5 quickly mention that at the statewide Alaska Board of 6 Fisheries meeting where the Board of Fisheries decides 7 regulations for State managed waters, the only proposal 8 that passed that would affect subsistence in north is 9 that until now wanton waste of nonsalmon species was

10 legal and a proposal was passed to make it illegal. It 11 is unclear, the law hasn't been written yet, but the 12 proposal has been passed. And it was driven 13 specifically by a concern for wasted sheefish over in 14 Kotzebue and pike on the Yukon caught through the ice 15 and deliberately left there. And until this proposal 16 was passed that was a perfectly legal thing to do. 17 It's not legal in commercial and sport fisheries to do 18 anything like that with any species. 19 20 So this proposal has passed, it's a 21 State regulation, hasn't been published yet and the 22 Department of Law has not finished the language. It's 23 unclear how the wildlife troopers are going to 24 determine what is deliberate wanton waste. So if I 25 have some more information that I can pass along to you 26 or to Carmen, Carmen's familiar with the issue as well. 27 28 So that's all I got. 29 30 Thank you. 31 32 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Any questions to 33 ADF&G on wanton waste. 34 35 (No comments) 36 37 CHAIRMAN BROWER: You know, sometimes I 38 leave some fish, you know, because I make a judgment 39 call and take a look at it. You might not readily see 40 some issues that maybe local fishermen might see. But 41 I'm so far and remote nobody's going to see that and I 42 never, ever waste anything. When they stink up they 43 just get tasting even better. 44 45 But it's important to know that some 46 people will leave things. I do something like when I 47 get a pile of fish and they've spawned out and they 48 have the bile that's coming out, the green bile, and 49 it's -- and the taste is different and it's just




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1 customary for us to use that for other things. And it 2 might not be the most consumable fish at that point and 3 they're used for other things. So there's a lot of 4 judgment call that local fishermen make and just 5 because it's left and doesn't mean that it's being 6 wasted. 7 8 Thank you. 9

10 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman. 11 12 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 13 William. 14 15 MR. HOPSON: Yeah, when you said that 16 are you talking about in regards to the commercial 17 fishing they do or at a subsistence camp? 18 19 MR. SCANLON: Thank you. So it's 20 already illegal in commercial fisheries and sport 21 fisheries to waste anything. In subsistence the way 22 the law has been written it just applied to salmon, 23 didn't apply to nonsalmon species. And like I said the 24 impetus was clearly someone was catching a lot of 25 sheefish just for fun and threw them on the ice and 26 left. There was 50 to 100. I have -- actually there's 27 photographs of it. The troopers have been wanting to 28 do something about this for a while. There was no 29 attempt at all to salvage any part of the fish, it was 30 just a fun activity and apparently they didn't want to 31 bother to put the fish back down. 32 33 So this proposal was written by a 34 subsistence user in the Kotzebue area. It got a lot of 35 support around the State from other ACs. But like I 36 said it hasn't been written and I -- I'm not familiar 37 with how the wildlife troopers are going to enforce it. 38 I imagine they'll be pretty liberal and try to do a lot 39 of education at first. But things like this, catching 40 fish and leaving them on the ice because it's fun or 41 not checking your gillnet for two weeks because you 42 didn't feel like it, I think that's the kind of things 43 that they were targeting. Not you got a bunch of char, 44 took them home, ate some throughout the winter, didn't 45 need them all, but that -- I don't believe that would 46 apply. That's just -- you're catching what you think 47 you might need and because you didn't happen to use it 48 all that wouldn't be considered wanton waste. 49




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Just one last thing 2 here. And when I fish I fish for a community. And you 3 will see me have fish strewn all around, sometimes on 4 the lake with a lot of fish lined up. They'll be like 5 that for over a week. And sometimes I go turn them 6 over, every one, one by one. So I will freeze them and 7 sometimes it takes that long before you can sack them 8 up. And just letting you know there's some practices 9 that tend to look like you're leaving things out and

10 then even some of the foxes will try to haul my fish 11 away. I had to really be on my guard on sometimes, the 12 red fox. And by the way the red fox prefers (in 13 Inupiaq) that's for sure. They love those ones. They 14 prefer (in Inupiaq) more than (in Inupiaq). 15 16 I'll tell you that much. 17 18 But anyway just letting you know those 19 kind of things are out there. 20 21 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman. 22 23 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 24 William. 25 26 MR. HOPSON: Yeah, I just wanted to 27 point out too that I've had to throw away a hundred 28 fish caught. It's not my fault. Many times especially 29 down in the Kotzebue area you get overflow after you 30 set the net and you can't get to the net until the 31 water goes out. By that time it's three, four days and 32 you pull out your net they're all dead. And they're 33 soft. And you did not intentionally do it, nature did 34 it for you. Those kind of things need to be put in 35 consideration. 36 37 I just wanted to bring that out because 38 I have done that, I have had overflow, made my nets 39 uncheckable for days. And that's what happened. And I 40 just want to point that out. Like Gordon says there 41 are so many ways we do stuff, it looks like wanton 42 waste or what. The way we process stuff, caribou, the 43 fish. It's totally different from what other people 44 see it as. So I just wanted to bring that out to that 45 those kind of stuff, you know, it makes you throw away. 46 You cannot use it unless maybe you got a dog team. 47 48 So I just wanted to point that out.




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1 MR. SCANLON: Thank you, Mr. Hopson. 2 That's good to know. Like I said I can't speak for the 3 Department of Law or the wildlife troopers, but I think 4 public safety is probably their most important concern 5 over whether or not you're able to retrieve your net in 6 time. 7 8 So also as far as regulation on the 9 North Slope for subsistence fisheries it's essentially

10 completely unregulated, there's no harvest 11 requirements, there's no bag limits, size limits, 12 seasonal restrictions at all. 13 14 Thank you. 15 16 MR. OOMITTUK: I have a question. 17 18 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 19 Steve. 20 21 MR. OOMITTUK: You know, we've been 22 seeing some ships on the south side of Point Hope and 23 they said they were doing some studies on what kind of 24 species of fish are in the area and see what the 25 numbers are. I don't know who's doing that study. I 26 know nobody came to Point Hope and -- or to our 27 communities and let us know that the fisheries were 28 doing studies to see if it would be good to commercial 29 fish within the -- you know, in the Arctic. Do you 30 know anything about that, the studies that are being 31 done in the Chukchi or the Bering Sea or..... 32 33 MR. SCANLON: Yeah, thank you. I'm 34 aware of a couple of them. It's not really my 35 wheelhouse, but we do look at permits for these kind of 36 things. And the University of Alaska has a big, brand 37 new research ship called the Sikuliaq I believe it's 38 called. They were in Nome last summer and they gave a 39 presentation on all the work they were doing, looking 40 at primary -- you know, plankton, fish, water quality, 41 presence of trash. They were doing all kinds of work 42 out of that boat. 43 44 There's also I think a little further 45 to the south Fish and Game conducts a research trawl in 46 the summer to get some idea of the relative abundance 47 of king and chum and chinook -- king, chum, pink and 48 sockeye salmon. They use these small research trawls 49 and they catch juveniles and depending on their catch




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1 rates and the size and condition of these fish they use 2 that information to help make a forecast in the future. 3 4 I'm not aware of anything much beyond 5 that, but that doesn't mean that there's not something 6 else going on. And I can certainly find out more 7 information for you. 8 9 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Here's a picture of

10 how I would layout some fish. And I can't put it on 11 the screen, but there's hundreds of them just laid out 12 on the ice. And they might be long and they could be 13 there for a week. And I don't know if you could see 14 that. I was trying to find it in my camera because I 15 like to take pictures. And when I fish like that I'm 16 fishing for a community. In this particular year I 17 think I made 75 sacks and that's about 130 pounds a 18 sack. And I'm -- it's kind of like leaving a lot of 19 fish out in the environment to -- for the environment 20 to freeze them before I can take care of them. It's 21 just me and my boys. (in Inupiaq) you know. Even on 22 (in Inupiaq), I'll put them on (in Inupiaq) to that to 23 (in Inupiaq). We're used to doing those kind of 24 things. Somebody else that -- not mindful because I'm 25 going to leave them and they're going to be like that 26 for a while until they freeze might think I'm just 27 leaving it, look at the foxes taking some out anyway. 28 But, you know, I risk even some of the critters coming 29 around because maybe I might want to catch a wolverine 30 or something. 31 32 I'm just saying a lot of traditional 33 use does these things. That looks pretty normal. 34 35 MR. SCANLON: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I 36 can't imagine any instance that a wildlife trooper 37 would consider what you were doing to be deliberating 38 wasting anything. 39 40 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Any other further 41 questions for ADF&G. 42 43 (No comments) 44 45 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Hearing none, thank 46 you very much. 47 48 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, I 49 just want to briefly note too that Brendan and his team




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1 will be initiating the Colville River grayling study 2 this summer and had an opportunity to make a connection 3 with Martha Itta here. So just for the Council's 4 knowledge too, that's one of the FRMP projects that the 5 Council had wanted to be addressed and Brendan's our 6 person for that and will be in contact with Nuiqsut 7 this spring. 8 9 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Very good. That's a

10 way to work together. 11 12 With that, thank you. 13 14 MR. SCANLON: Thank you very much. 15 16 CHAIRMAN BROWER: So I would think next 17 one would be Department of Wildlife Management, North 18 Slope Borough. 19 20 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, I 21 did reach out to the Wildlife Department and I think 22 understandably they're very busy so we don't have folks 23 in person here, I don't believe we have folks on 24 teleconference. We often do have Brian Person, but 25 they were pretty busy around this time so we don't have 26 a formal report for the Council from the North Slope 27 Borough Wildlife Department at this time. 28 29 Thank you. 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. 32 33 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chair. 34 35 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 36 William. 37 38 MR. HOPSON: I -- there was a 39 presentation last night right before we get off. It 40 was a young lady doing a presentation on the Chandler 41 Lake fish. And a yellow flake showed up, but I was so 42 hungry I had one question I wanted to ask if they're 43 still here. 44 45 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And ask her if she 46 knows the Inupiaq name for her fish. 47 48 (Laughter) 49




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1 MS. BEAR: Mr. Chair, April Bear with 2 Fish and Game. 3 4 MR. HOPSON: Thank you. When you were 5 doing your presentation what I saw was a sustainable 6 catch in the Chandler Lake and the percent of it was -- 7 what part of it is sustainable. Would you like the 8 title of your research, you were determining a 9 sustainable catch of the Chandler Lake fish. And I

10 wanted to know the rationale for that. Are you or 11 anybody had request to open a sport hunting camp or are 12 you thinking of regulating fishing in Chandler Lake 13 because it -- you know, Anaktuvuk Pass is not here, but 14 we got to speak for them and make sure that regulations 15 are not being determined by this study. And I just 16 have to ask that question. 17 18 Thank you. 19 20 MS. BEAR: Yeah, sure. So the -- that 21 project was also a Fisheries Resource Monitoring 22 Project to address a priority information need 23 identified here I believe. 24 25 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council. So 26 that research project, all of the fisheries research 27 that comes through the OSM, the subsistence program, 28 the research is being conducted at the request of the 29 local communities. And so that was a subsistence 30 interest from the community of Anaktuvuk Pass. And so 31 it's trying to answer the questions or concerns that 32 the local communities have for subsistence fisheries. 33 34 MR. HOPSON: Thank you. That's all I 35 wanted to know. Because many times they come to you 36 and say, you know, if a different -- letting you know 37 in a different assumption and in reality the study was 38 going to be used to determine the regulations. And I 39 just don't want that to happen. And thank you, that 40 really clarifies that presentation I was looking at. 41 42 Thank you. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: And I just want to 45 add too we'll have opportunities for proposals like 46 that, for fisheries resource monitoring and then they 47 get graded on prioritizing these things. You might 48 come up with something and a concern, you know. I 49 always had a concern at Teshekpuk. Lot of fishermen at




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1 Teshekpuk saying where's all the fish, you know. The 2 abundance of fish at Teshekpuk has plummeted. And it's 3 a noticeable concern from various fishermen including 4 myself. So we thought maybe we should use that as a 5 candidate to see if there's an issue with the lake. 6 And, you know, it could be some of the fishermen may 7 have got their nets stuck in the ice and nets are 8 killing indiscriminately under the ice. Who knows. 9 But that was a concern raised by local fishermen about

10 Teshekpuk Lake and I had proposed it as a take a look 11 at the Teshekpuk Lake and see if there's an issue 12 developing, why the low catch rates is occurring. 13 Because I could remember a period of time in the '90s, 14 '80s, where maybe 20 percent of our catch was from that 15 lake in November through December and a majority of our 16 fish were caught in the River in Ikpikpuk, about 70 17 percent that we haul, but we would put nets on our way 18 up at these lakes as we progress up there and haul them 19 back, check the nets and do it that way. 20 21 Anyway long story short these studies 22 are at the request of some of the Council members 23 through some of your constituents might have -- you 24 might hear some observations and concerns. So more or 25 less they start to come that way. And I thought it's 26 another important part of, you know, when they're doing 27 some of the studies we try to help rank what should be 28 some of our priority studies as well. 29 30 MR. OOMITTUK: I have a question. You 31 know, when you do these studies and they're proposals 32 from a community do you try to utilize local hire or 33 local knowledge and, you know, have them available 34 onsite to help you with these studies? 35 36 MR. SCANLON: Thank you. We -- and 37 we're getting better at this. We have a pretty 38 rigorous program to involve the community, the schools, 39 and we've been pretty successful with students coming 40 through the Alaska Native Science and Engineering 41 Program. And in a couple of projects we're able to do 42 more than just have them come out and hangout in the 43 field with us and run nets and boats, but the project 44 over on the Noatak River looking at a dolly varden 45 trap, the ANSEP student actually gets to work in the 46 gene conservation lab in Anchorage helping to analyze 47 genetic samples which is probably something -- you 48 know, it's a little more detailed, intricate and it's 49 more productive than just helping us drag nets through




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1 the water. 2 3 We do do a lot of local hires when we 4 can. A project on the Noatak River just a few years 5 ago, we had to put radio tags out in trout, they call 6 them trout over there, and we hired a fleet of people 7 to come fishing with us and we bought 400 and some 8 gallons of gas and we had high school students come out 9 for a day and we gave a presentation in the school on

10 their life history and (indiscernible) works and we 11 don't always get it exactly right, but we really do 12 try. And talking with Martha and with Rosemary in the 13 past, we're going to try to do a good job with the 14 Colville grayling as well. 15 16 Thanks. 17 18 MR. REXFORD: Mr. Chair. 19 20 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Kaktovik, Eddie. 21 22 MR. REXFORD: I got a question about 23 lake trout. In the past, I don't know what year it 24 was, Schrader Lake and Peters Lake, it was program 25 similar to Chandler Lake because every time I fish 26 there I get fish with tags. And I'm kind of curious 27 when the last tagging project was done in our lakes 28 there, Schrader Lake and Peters Lake. Do you have any 29 records or things to that effect? 30 31 MR. SCANLON: Yeah, it was a long time 32 ago, maybe 20 years ago that those tags went out there. 33 We don't have any recent information on the lake trout 34 in Peters and Schrader. I fly over it when I go do 35 these aerial surveys. It looks beautiful. It looks 36 kind of similar to Chandler in size and the way it's 37 laid out. We'd love to get there. We haven't had any 38 priority information needs pop up for lake trout on 39 this lake. But if you ever catch one of those tagged 40 fish and you get the tag number I could do some 41 research and tell you how old it was when we -- well, 42 not how old, but how big it was when we caught it, and 43 when it was caught and we can see how much it grew and 44 get some idea how old it is. 45 46 MR. REXFORD: Yeah, the reason I ask is 47 I do own property next to Schrader Lake, my mother's 48 Native allotment I inherited. And we do go up every 49 year and harvest lake trout. And I don't know, at that




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1 time they were doing the tags into the body. And I 2 catch lake trout with tags on the body and under the 3 plastic tag the meat is deteriorated. But on the slide 4 show you had it was kind of on the dorsal fin. Has 5 that change happened since then..... 6 7 MR. SCANLON: You know, I..... 8 9 MR. REXFORD: .....or is that an

10 improvement or did you ever here complaints like that 11 from tagged fish before? 12 13 MR. SCANLON: There is some training 14 that goes into putting these tags in correctly. April 15 and I probably weren't with the Department when they 16 did that study, I wasn't able to see those fish. But 17 the pictures that April showed yesterday, these fish 18 can hold these tags for a long time if you put them in 19 correctly. There's not a -- there's a lot of white 20 muscle under the dorsal fin and there's not a lot of 21 blood there so it -- typically they don't get infected, 22 they don't bleed very often. You can hit a kidney on 23 small fish if you're not careful, if you go too deep, 24 but these interneural supports that hold the dorsal fin 25 up, if you can just get it right through there the fish 26 are going to hold the tag for 20 years. We've had 27 tagging projects in Paxton Lake between Delta and 28 Glennallen and we caught fish on the spawning ground in 29 '86 and recaptured them in 2002, fish look fine, it 30 grew. We've been doing tagging like this on a lot of 31 species for a long time and we think we do a pretty 32 good job. 33 34 Thank you. 35 36 MR. REXFORD: Yeah, thank you for that 37 information. I do get fish with the tags on them, but 38 we don't send them in to see when they were tagged and 39 how small they were when they were tagged. I guess 40 that's the purpose of that tagging project. So I guess 41 I'm going to have to start trying to see what year the 42 fish are tagged and, you know, how big they've grown 43 since then. Because they're a long lived fish in -- 44 especially in Schrader Lake. I don't know if you guys 45 are aware of it, but we do get huge fish there and they 46 seem to live forever because of that glacier water and 47 the lake, some parts is thousands of feet deep. 48 49 And thank you for that information.




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1 MR. SCANLON: You're welcome. And I'd 2 be happy to try to look up the report for that previous 3 tagging study and provide it for the Council. 4 5 MR. REXFORD: That would help our 6 community, you know, if future fish are caught with 7 tags we'd like to know that information also. 8 9 Thank you.

10 11 CHAIRMAN BROWER: (In Inupiaq) 12 13 Thank you. 14 15 That was a very interesting exchange. 16 I think I would if I got one with a tag I would call 17 you up and say here's a number, man, tell me what year 18 and how big it was and I think that's pretty cool. 19 20 MS. OKADA: Mr. Chair. 21 22 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, go ahead, 23 Madame Coordinator. 24 25 MS. PATTON: That's Marcy. 26 27 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Oh. Oh, sorry. 28 Yeah. Go ahead there, Marcy. 29 30 MS. OKADA: Mr. Chair, this is Marcy 31 Okada. And I just quickly want to add that the 32 principal investigator for the Chandler Lake trout 33 project will be presenting results to our Gates of the 34 Arctic Subsistence Resource Commission at our upcoming 35 meeting in Anaktuvuk Pass. 36 37 CHAIRMAN BROWER: That's very good to 38 hear. It seems like there should be corresponding 39 presentations to Kaktovik on an old study if they're 40 still catching those tags -- tagged fish. I think it 41 would behoove those folks to do that if they're 42 catching tagged fish still because that's contributing 43 to the science of that fish. 44 45 With that, Madame Coordinator, are we 46 -- was there additional OSM stuff or were we done with 47 OSM. Seems like we had moved them up earlier with some 48 special actions, closures. 49




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1 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council. So 2 we had addressed the action items from the Federal 3 Subsistence Management Program. We do have just a 4 couple things. Orville Lind here, our Native liaison, 5 would like to address the Council on the government to 6 government consultation with the Federal Subsistence 7 Management Program. And then after that we just have 8 very brief updates from OSM on the FRMP projects and 9 then that'll be it for the meeting.

10 11 Thank you. 12 13 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you. 14 15 Orville, you have the floor. 16 17 MR. LIND: Thank you. Hello. My name 18 is Orville Lind. I'm the Native liaison for the Office 19 of Subsistence Management. I want to give you a little 20 background on myself. I was born and raised in the 21 Village of Chignik which is on Alaska Peninsula before 22 the islands, a little village of 120 people and raised 23 as a commercial fisherman. And our diet mainly 24 consists of brown bear, salmon, berries and plants. My 25 father was village chief there for several years. He 26 founded the village and I lived there until I was about 27 18 years old and then went and worked for the General 28 Electric. 29 30 From that point on I got hired as a 31 Refuge information technician in 1991 and had worked 32 for Joe Asoolok and several of the first Refuge 33 information technicians in the YK Delta. And from that 34 point on in 1995 I became a Refuge ranger with the 35 Alaska Peninsula National -- Becharof National Wildlife 36 Refuge out of King Salmon. During my time of being a 37 Refuge ranger I refused to become law enforcement 38 because most of the people that were breaking the law 39 were my uncles and relatives just because they did not 40 know about the regulations that were out there. 41 42 Quite a learning experience. One of 43 the first hurdles that Refuge information had to go 44 through was wearing the uniform. As you may know the 45 uniform was a bad thing to see. They were people that 46 came into your village and took away your uncle or your 47 cousins for trying to provide for your families. And 48 so it wasn't a very good thing to see people with 49 uniforms in the village. However in 1993 I put the




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1 uniform on because we were told we had to. And so my 2 getting over that hurdle was that the mission of the 3 Fish and Wildlife Service said we were working together 4 to protect, enhance all wildlife and habitats for the 5 benefit of all American people. It's kind of the way I 6 was raised by my elders to take care of the land, take 7 care of the waters, it'll take care of you. 8 So with that connection I started to 9 build this foundation, a relationship building of

10 trying to explain to people that there are laws out 11 there because those are lands that are owned by 12 different landowners which they didn't understand. 13 Like myself we went to get what we needed wherever. It 14 didn't matter where we went to. So again it was 15 another learning curve for us to find out there was 16 BIA, BLM, lands around where I was from. And of course 17 with the -- working with the Federal Subsistence Board 18 we have Board members made up of directors from the 19 BIA, BLM, Forest Service, Park Service and Fish and 20 Wildlife Service. 21 22 My uncle used to say well, why are you 23 working with these people. I said well, I couldn't 24 beat them so I joined them. And so now I'm undercover. 25 So that was my -- that was my spiel. Anyway I've been 26 with the government now for 26 years almost in 27 December. And it really warmed my heart to see the 28 apology come about and it was something that many of 29 the people I worked with over the years really had a 30 very harsh relationship with the government. And it 31 still happens, but I think we're a little more aware of 32 what now the missions are and like Ernie says, we're 33 trying to work together to make everything a lot 34 understandable using mostly our own language rather 35 than government language. So I think that's a plus. 36 37 So as Native liaison which I have been 38 in the last four years my -- generally my duty is to 39 work with all 229 Federal recognized tribes here in 40 Alaska. And in our nation there's actually 567 tribes 41 in our nation and 229 just here in Alaska. I feel 42 privileged and honored and I like what I'm doing. I 43 used to be on the other side of the fence as a 44 subsistence user. So now I gave up my subsistence 45 rights to help Alaskans fight for their subsistence 46 resources so to speak. 47 48 As you know we're trying to educate our 49 agencies also that our indigenous tribes, we are




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1 culturally and traditionally, spiritually connected to 2 the resource that we harvest. A lot of people don't 3 understand why we're so passionate about our resource, 4 but we are because it's our life, it's our lifestyles. 5 6 My job primarily is to address -- be 7 the primary contact for tribes in Alaska when it 8 concerns subsistence issues. And this is actually my 9 second year presenting this tribal consultation and

10 ANCSA consultation structure that we have in place. We 11 are actually obligated to listen to the tribes because 12 of Executive Order 13175 which is to me a blessing. 13 Because now no matter what Federal agencies, we have to 14 be involved, tribes have to be involved in the decision 15 making process, whether it's subsistence or other 16 issues. 17 18 Especially working with the Regional 19 Advisory Councils. I've worked with the Bristol Bay 20 Regional Council since 1993 when it was formed and we 21 had to go through several hurdles just to get the 22 understanding of really what the Board members could 23 do, how they come about their recommendations, you 24 know, how much power did they have. So anyway we tried 25 to explain to the people that are unaware of Regional 26 Advisory Councils is that listen, if you're having an 27 issue with a subsistence resource, give me a holler, 28 give our office a holler, we are working for you. 29 30 We have different divisions in our 31 office who really work well together. I have to say 32 our offices, I believe the biggest office in the 33 regional office in Anchorage with our Fish and Wildlife 34 Service, the Office of Subsistence Management has 35 several divisions. Myself -- I don't call myself a 36 division, but I feel like one. We have the 37 coordination division such as Eva, we have the wildlife 38 division, we have the fisheries division and we also 39 have anthropology division, forgive me if I forget 40 anybody. Okay. And so we definitely have to work 41 together to go through the process, the Federal 42 subsistence process that RACs send proposals or special 43 actions to us, we have to go through that process. And 44 I have to say that we try our best to go through 45 special actions to see if they're valid and then go 46 into the next process, proposals, change in regulations 47 because it's what we're supposed to do. 48 49 We have a group of people in our office




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1 that are very hard workers. We I think -- we're called 2 grinders believe it or not, that's what they call us in 3 Anchorage regional office, the office of grinders 4 because work so hard and sometimes time doesn't allow 5 us to do the right thing or doesn't allow us to get to 6 what we need to get to in a timely manner. So we can't 7 control changes in proposals come to us or special 8 actions come to us, but there's a Federal process that 9 we go to that we have to try to abide by. But still

10 it's enough time for us to make things happen. So we 11 try our best to oblige what comes to our office. 12 13 I want to give you a little background 14 of our first tribal section down in Southeast Juneau. 15 We had a Council coordinator move from our office down 16 to become a tribal operations specialist down in Juneau 17 and she says, Orville, these tribes have no idea what 18 Native liaison in our office does, would you be willing 19 to come down there and give us a session. I said 20 absolutely, let's put it together. So we spent about a 21 month and a half putting a little session together kind 22 of like this, but we had invited more tribal leaders 23 the day before to have a session before the RAC 24 meeting. So we had -- we actually had Forest Service 25 directors there invited. We had some tribal leaders 26 from other areas invited to come and then we had it 27 also by teleconference. So there was really great 28 participation there from people around the region. And 29 basically just to say, hey, I'm here as a Native 30 liaison and this is what I do and so we're making the 31 connection. If you have any questions, if I don't have 32 the answer we have people in our office who should have 33 the answer and will get you the answer. 34 35 So with that said the only other thing 36 I have is when we do consultation the first thing I do 37 is what tribes are going to be affected by that special 38 action or proposed rule, regulation change. I will make 39 a contact, either email, phone or fax or sometimes all 40 three. Some of you familiar with the Kuskokwim tribes, 41 Yukon tribes. My first big consultation was with the 42 tribes of -- I believe with the Kusko and there's I 43 believe 33 or 35 tribes involved. And I'm the only 44 Native liaison and I'm not complaining, but I love 45 talking to people on the phone or meeting them face to 46 face which is the Native way or to visit, you know, 47 while they're in town. To explain to them is just say, 48 okay, this is -- this is what -- an idea of what I 49 have. I have to check the Federal Subsistence Board




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1 availability because tribal consultation and ANCSA 2 consultation requires two Board members before we can 3 conduct consultation. This gives the tribes an 4 opportunity to actually directly speak to a Federal 5 Subsistence Board member. 6 7 And this process was difficult to start 8 because there were so many things it involved, the 9 steps to where we wanted to get to. Although four

10 years now I'm still learning, but it is getting better. 11 We have I believe a total 121 consultations since I 12 started. Just in this past year I believe we've had 21 13 consultations with tribes and ANCSA corporations. On 14 top of that I think the tribes are getting to know the 15 process, they're getting to know the Office of 16 Subsistence Management, they're getting to know the 17 Board members or the Council members in each region. 18 And then so it's a -- it's a big, big, big process. 19 And I think in some areas we're -- I'll just put it 20 this way, I think there's a lot of room for 21 improvement. There's a lot of room for improvement. 22 We're making steps towards that. 23 24 One of the steps we're dealing with is 25 the all Council meeting that we had I believe it was 26 two years ago. Yeah, where all 10 regions came 27 together and I thought it was the best thing ever. 28 That was my opportunity to get to know people, give 29 them my contact and say this is who I am and what I do. 30 Basically we work for you people. 31 32 And the other step toward that goal is 33 two years ago we started to hear from Regional Councils 34 is that where's our young people, where's the students 35 who are going to be in those seats when you retire. 36 And so we've been working with the ANSEP students, 37 we've been working with high school students. We 38 actually here a few months ago were in contact with 39 Dillingham High School students in Bristol Bay where we 40 actually had our office go on a teleconference. It was 41 supposed to be a VTC system where we can actually see 42 each other and get to know who's who, but that didn't 43 work out too well so we're going to try that again. 44 But those students are -- were excited to see something 45 -- to see something new being that this office is 46 helping them take care of their resource. There's a 47 connection and with them the question asked of them was 48 basically, you know, you like caribou, you like moose, 49 you like salmon, yes, yes, yes. What happens if you




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1 run out, what happens if that resource disappear. 2 Well, we're there for you, we can take steps to assist. 3 4 One of the success stories we have of 5 course is the waterfowl. I started in '91 and our big 6 push was to eliminate hunting of emperor geese. And I 7 had to find a way to tell my people myself who that's 8 what I grew up with, you know, that was part of the 9 main diet for my family, what are we going to do, how

10 are we going to pass this word out. Now the word 11 traitor really is going to come out. And so it was a 12 different resource direction, it was -- it change in 13 not harvesting emperor geese, but harvesting Pacific 14 brandt which was still a lot in our area. So that 15 wasn't such a big change, it was not such a big change. 16 But the key was teaching our students in school that 17 this change needed to happen. And so they were able to 18 harvest emperors again here just two years ago. Yeah, 19 season open. 20 21 So it's with cooperation, with 22 education, I think we are going to go through a lot of 23 hurdles, climb a lot of mountains, but the important 24 thing is that we come together to work together. And 25 it's not always going to be fun, it's not always going 26 to be, you know, like Forest Gump say, a box of 27 chocolate candy. But if we make the effort to work 28 together I think we're going to accomplish a lot of 29 stuff for Alaska people and for the resource. 30 31 With that, questions. 32 33 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. 34 35 Questions for Orville. 36 37 (No comments) 38 39 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Hey, I think the 40 student stuff is good, you know, I try to -- I remember 41 my son when he was in high school, they would be some 42 programs and from NASA that would -- and other people 43 and I maintained contact with this lady in Italy and 44 she often tries to find things for study and things 45 like that. And here's an example, I came across a 46 grant from National Geographic on science communication 47 and had an idea of having young hunters take picture of 48 the sea ice when they are out breaking trails and 49 having those pictures, videos, projected in different




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1 cities in Europe and having the students in Barrow 2 decide together with elders, whaling captains, on how 3 they would like to show those images to the rest of the 4 world. 5 6 Anyway it was like a grant for $30,000 7 so it would be enough to buy Go Pros and some pocket 8 weather meters for the hunters. And my son been 9 involved with this lady through the high school to do

10 local meteorological monitoring on ice movements and 11 ice thickness so they could start to measure through 12 remote sensing that we made a measurement physically 13 here and then they see it with a satellite and see what 14 it looked like. And then they would determine the ice 15 that looks like this, remotely sense it, but confirmed 16 by local hunters is two feet thick. That kind and then 17 extrapolating that kind of information all over where 18 all the ice is. 19 20 And it's things like this I think that 21 are important to try to find ways to connect with the 22 youth, with their environment and I continue always 23 advocating for it. This just came into me about one 24 hour ago and wanting to do it because we had some 25 success in 2015 in particular with doing things like 26 that with young people. 27 28 MR. LIND: Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. 29 Chair. It's been an effort even when I was a Refuge 30 information technician back in '91 we've pushed the 31 idea of teaching government employees how we live and 32 maybe through that would become a better understanding 33 how passionate we are about our resource. 34 35 Just to add a little bit about the 36 Alaska Native relations training that Ernie was talking 37 about where we're boat instructors there, that we 38 invite elders from all four corners of the State to 39 attend our training. And some of the evaluation sheets 40 that we get from that training, a lot come from them 41 spending village time with an elder during that 42 training session and we allow that to happen. And so 43 these new employees from the Department of Interior and 44 we had 80 of them which is a very large class, but we 45 pulled it off. And we got some great reviews. 46 47 Again we always say that we have room 48 for improvement. Some people didn't get it, but mostly 49 most of them did. And so we -- the Fish and Wildlife




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1 Service directed mandates all Fish and Wildlife Service 2 employees take that class. So that's a plus. And 3 hopefully the other agencies will follow. 4 5 Thank you. 6 7 Anymore questions. 8 9 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chairman.

10 11 CHAIRMAN BROWER: William. 12 13 MR. HOPSON: Thank you for your 14 presentation. On Tuesday we had a little orientation 15 over at the Top of the World Hotel and one of my issues 16 or something I've been pushing for for years is the 17 Colville River Umiat cleanup. And when I spoke with 18 Orville and Eva what we discussed I think even a memo 19 to the Army Corps of Engineers from this body would 20 help speed up the cleanup of Umiat and Colville River. 21 And I wanted to bring that up, how do we go about or 22 can we have the staff work on a memo. I know it's not 23 an action item, but a memo to remind them that we have 24 these pending things that need to be fixed because they 25 are a major subsistence resource issue. 26 27 And I just wanted to bring that out to 28 those things. Because I know I discussed it a little 29 bit with both of you. But a simple memo, a reminder, 30 it might help as I really feel for those people over 31 there, you know, they need help bad. And we just want 32 to speed up the cleanup of the area. 33 34 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 35 36 CHAIRMAN BROWER: That's very good. I 37 think there's ways of doing that and, you know, I just 38 want to let you know some of our efforts, we get 39 complaints from breakup season from the early boaters 40 that drums and debris is coming out, they don't know 41 exactly from where. And then we go up and do 42 inspections. 43 44 The Borough, just because it's the 45 Borough, local government, and they call the mayor up. 46 I got all these complaints coming in, I need to steal 47 the chopper for a little bit and take that new S92 that 48 can go anywhere and go hover around and go take a look 49 at some of these. And we did take photographs of




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1 overtopping of the existing buried landfill area and 2 you could see the turbidity where the landfill is known 3 to be buried in these areas. So, you know, I think it 4 shouldn't be taken with a grain of salt that this 5 debris that gets noted along the Colville River could 6 be emanating from these areas that we -- they're known 7 landfill to exist along the shorelines of the Colville 8 River. And might be undermined from the breakup season 9 as the velocity of the breakup ensues especially when

10 you get an ice jam and then that ice jam let's loose. 11 I mean, these are crazy events. I've seen on Ikpikpuk 12 some of our camps turn into islands because of an ice 13 jam. I mean, it's important to note these things that 14 what's in the wake of spring breakup that occurs. 15 16 And it's already been 50 some, 60 17 years, it's time to do something. That big Umiat, 18 Calver to Umiat roads to resources that Corps of 19 Engineers is moving forward with was to save money. 20 Because the cost of excavating and mining that dump was 21 about 900 to $1 billion. By building a road from the 22 haul road straight across and connecting it over to the 23 dump area was half the cost at 400 million to clean it 24 up even if you build a road. So, I mean, that's what 25 is at stake. Those are the kind of numbers I was 26 listening to in those presentations and how extensive 27 it is. 28 29 So shouldn't be taken lightly. 30 31 I think it's important. 32 33 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council. 34 35 MR. LIND: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 36 37 MR. OOMITTUK: Mr. Chair. 38 39 MS. PATTON: Go ahead. 40 41 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Go ahead, Steve. 42 43 MR. OOMITTUK: Yeah. I just want to 44 thank you for your report. You know, as a Council 45 member with the Native Village of Point Hope, you know, 46 we always had concerns of Project Chariot, you know, 47 and burial of nuclear waste within our hunting areas 48 and our, you know, the migration. And, you know, the 49 cliffs of Cape Thomson where the murres nest and where




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1 we gather the murres, (in Inupiaq) and the caribou 2 migration routes. 3 4 You know, in the '60s, I don't know if 5 you heard of Project Chariot where Edward Teller's plan 6 was to build a deepwater harbor and commercialize the 7 atomic bomb to reshape the world. And that was going 8 to be the start of it and he got stopped. But they 9 buried a bunch of nuclear waste and didn't tell the

10 people and in 1994 they finally admitted and they dug 11 it out, government did, and took out 10,000 pounds of 12 nuclear waste. But there's still a lot of documents 13 that we want to get declassified because the elders 14 talked about watching them burying more stuff than 15 that, you know, within their hunting because they 16 traveled that area. 17 18 And, you know, we always wanted to -- 19 we tried to get some documents declassified so we could 20 understand what really went on over there and they're 21 keeping it all top secret. And, you know, I don't know 22 if you know Jack Schafer, but he, you know, worked on 23 trying to get all these documents declassified and 24 finding documents that something was shipped up to Cape 25 Thomson. 26 27 You know, they had all these four 28 detonations that they were going to do to -- and 29 they're supposed to be a hundred times stronger than 30 Hiroshima. And they were going to do it on a strong 31 north wind, you know, it was already planned and they 32 were all set to do it and there -- they wanted the 33 people of Point Hope to move to Nome in April. And 34 they came and had a town meeting after being there two 35 years. And, you know, they went to the other villages 36 and never made it to Point Hope until they were ready 37 to do the detonation. And that they wanted -- the 38 population was just over 300 in 1959, '60 and the plan 39 was to -- they needed a 25 mile radius evacuation. 40 Point Hope was 23 miles away from there. And so the 41 plan was to move the people of Point Hope to Nome until 42 it was cleared off and we'd be able to move back. But 43 they -- the elders at that time said, no, we're they're 44 not leaving. This is a time when they're out whaling, 45 you know. 46 47 They had a big town meeting that they 48 were getting ready to do this detonation. And we've 49 always wondered about, you know, ways of getting




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1 documents declassified or doing environmental impact 2 studies and see, you know -- you know, because we feel 3 that there's still nuclear waste here, we have a high 4 rate of cancer. You know, it's in route of our animal 5 migration of the Western Arctic caribou herd, the 6 waterfowl and the DeLong Mountains. So is there any 7 way that you can help the Native Village of Point Hope 8 in getting some of these documents or these studies 9 done to ensure -- see and make sure if there's -- find

10 out if there's still any, you know, nuclear waste there 11 or getting -- seeing what the impact on our wildlife is 12 over there. 13 14 MR. LIND: When -- just a comment. I 15 wish I had a real good answer for you. But when I 16 married my wife in Port Hyden, a former White Alice 17 Station was built in 1942 there. And when I became 18 mayor in 1980 we were finding a high rate of leukemia 19 and cancer in the village. As a matter of fact 80 20 percent of the people that died there since 1930 died 21 of cancer. And so we did a little research and found 22 out that they had buried also, I believe we took out if 23 I remember correctly, 60, almost 70,000 pounds of PCBs. 24 And it just -- it took them 15 years to cleanup. And 25 it ended here about three, four years ago, the cleanup. 26 27 And anyway there are some contacts out 28 there that would -- I'm sorry to say I don't think I 29 could help you with the people that would steer you in 30 the right direction, I can certainly assist in getting 31 some contacts that I have, but my -- primarily my job 32 is just to deal with subsistence on Federal public 33 lands and work with the Regional Advisory Councils in 34 order to conserve their resources, subsistence 35 lifestyle. 36 37 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Orville. 38 In any event it sounds like maybe some sort of hurry up 39 to Corps of Engineers for Umiat. 40 41 MR. LIND: Thank you. 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah. And thank you 44 very much, Orville. 45 46 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council and 47 to address William that -- yes, this Council as Gordon 48 noted can draft a letter coming from the Council to the 49 agency and also address the Federal Subsistence Board




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1 on, you know, the impacts to subsistence that you're 2 experiencing from that Umiat site. And sounds like 3 there's a lot of information and observations from the 4 communities and especially Nuiqsut. And what we can do 5 is start drafting that letter moving forward and come 6 to the Council, you know, so we get a good solid 7 information and awareness from the communities to help 8 build that awareness for both Army Corps and the other 9 Federal agencies involved. And then the Council can

10 review that letter at the winter meeting, make sure 11 it's what you would like and then approve it as a 12 Council at that time. 13 14 Thank you. 15 16 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Sounds pretty good. 17 And, you know, we hear all kinds of stuff and then we 18 go inspect and take a look at these things. So it 19 might be important to note that debris continues to be 20 reported downriver of the Umiat landfill. And there's 21 also some subsistence user accounts describing a road 22 grader coming out through the side of a bank somewhere 23 up there. I don't know if it's the Chandler River or 24 something like that, it might -- there was another dump 25 further up maybe. And some folks that actually had 26 jobs there that were part of the debris dump making 27 like I think Charlie -- Charlie Napho. He -- I 28 remember him saying he worked with them as a young 29 person. And they were driving LVTs and other track 30 with cases of ammunitions and stuff, working machine 31 guns and everything, stacked up and driven in to the 32 landfill and buried in there, actually working 33 machinery. 34 35 So I don't know if they were trying to 36 cryo-preserve them or whatnot. But said they were 37 actual working stuff that they just made them 38 disappear. 39 40 All right. Having said that we could 41 disappear tonight real easily now under I think -- are 42 we down to item 13, Madame Coordinator? 43 44 MS. PATTON: We have just one very 45 brief update. So there's just a very brief update on 46 the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program update and 47 then Robbin will have a very brief OSM update. We 48 always save the briefest for the last. 49




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1 And I'll just -- just a quick follow-up 2 too. So with tribal consultation, the process, the 3 Council works on -- you help develop regulatory 4 proposals here from your communities and provide that 5 feedback to the Council. These proposals will come 6 back to the Council for your review in the fall and we 7 hold consultation with the tribes as well so we engage 8 with each of the individual tribes that may be affected 9 at that time. And then there's also a tribal

10 consultation at the Board meeting. So in addition to 11 the Council's work and the public process there is also 12 this opportunity for tribal consultation in every part 13 of the Federal Subsistence Program. 14 15 And youth outreach is a huge goal of 16 ours and we've been working on -- and unfortunately 17 this time we weren't able to have our youth students 18 presenting. The Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program 19 is a big part of our youth engagement to Alaska Native 20 Science and Engineering Students and in fact I think 21 many of you probably know Unak Ogiak (ph) who is an 22 Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program student 23 and graduate. She worked on the Fisheries Resources 24 Monitoring Programs during research on the North Slope 25 here, was a long time education outreach and fisheries 26 -- fish and wildlife biologist with U.S. Fish and 27 Wildlife Service. And unfortunately she just retired. 28 Unak went on, she wanted to explore other 29 opportunities. So that is a position that's open and 30 open to another local student. 31 32 CHAIRMAN BROWER: What's the job 33 called? 34 35 MS. PATTON: I don't know that -- have 36 they flown the position yet, it's -- her position was 37 technically called a fish and wildlife biologist, She 38 had a fisheries biology degree. She did a lot of the 39 field science summer camps for high school students, 40 some fantastic videos. But she was also the outreach 41 and education coordinator along with Ernest. So we try 42 to keep that engagement going and we often have our 43 young students come and present their research 44 experiences to the Council. 45 46 And please let me know too, you know, 47 how we can, you know, engage locally if you've got good 48 ideas. We'd love to incorporate youth with the 49 Council.




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1 Thank you. 2 3 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right, Eva, 4 you're always so informative. Sometimes you could just 5 join the group here, you know. 6 7 So we go to Robbin, right? 8 9 MS. LaVINE: Yes, thank you. Mr. Chair

10 and members of the Council. Once again my name is 11 Robbin LaVine, I'm an anthropologist and I'm currently 12 acting anthropology supervisor. And I'm going to give 13 you a staffing update really briefly. 14 15 We have had recently three departures, 16 relatively recently. Two recent hires and currently we 17 have seven vacancies. So our -- what's called -- what 18 we are calling our recent departures is one you are 19 really aware of, that Mr. Gene Peltola. He is our ARD 20 for OSM, he's now the regional director for BIA in 21 Alaska. And our former DARD or continuing DARD, Tom 22 Doolittle is acting in his absence. 23 24 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, I mean -- I 25 mean, there's a lot of little acronyms here and stuff. 26 It might be great to just name them out, you know, and 27 kind of say who's the DARD, you know, and we throw a 28 dart out there, you know. 29 30 MS. LaVINE: The DARD, Thank you, Mr. 31 Chair. The deputy area regional manager of OSM. And 32 the area regional manager is the ARD, right. 33 34 MS. PATTON: Regional director. 35 36 MS. LaVINE: Regional director. Oh, 37 sorry. Regional director, yes. Yes, even I mess up. 38 So the big boss, the big boss of OSM, that was Gene 39 Peltola and he's gone to BIA. So now we have Tom 40 Doolittle acting in his absence. 41 42 We have also lost Carl Johnson who was 43 our Council Coordination Division supervisor. And we 44 have Katya Wessels acting in his absence. 45 46 Gary Decossas was one of our fisheries 47 biologists, he's gone to the Refuge in Bethel and that 48 position remains open as do all. 49




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1 We've had two recent hires. We have 2 Mr. Greg Risdahl and he is the Fisheries Division 3 supervisor. 4 5 And we have Hannah Voorhees and she 6 joined our anthropology team. So Hannah is our new 7 staff anthropologist. She is from Alaska, she joined 8 us just this February. And she's done a lot of work up 9 here on the North Slope and in Seward Pen on

10 traditional ecological knowledge, co-management and 11 polar bears. So some of you may have met her. She's 12 going to be working with the Seward Pen Regional 13 Advisory Council and the Western Interior Regional 14 Advisory Council although I know she's hoping that she 15 will have some opportunity to come and join you all in 16 the future. 17 18 Our vacancies as they are continue to 19 be the regional director, the acting -- or the area of 20 the -- the assistant, there we go, the assistant 21 regional director of OSM is still open. The 22 Anthropology Division supervisor is a position that is 23 still open. The Council Coordination Division 24 supervisor. We have two Fisheries positions and two 25 Admin positions and all of these are in various stages 26 of moving forward. Hopefully by the next time one of 27 us comes before you most of them will be filled. 28 29 Because there are presently less layers 30 in the recently implemented hiring process than in the 31 last few years, so it's likely that these vacancies 32 will be filled more expeditiously than in the recent 33 years. And that's good news. 34 35 And finally even though parts of the 36 government came to a grinding halt, the new nomination 37 letters did not -- did get out just in time to hold 38 Regional Advisory Council meetings statewide. Delays 39 did occur in the signature process within the 40 Department of the Interior, but all Councils will have 41 a full quorum and did in this cycle. And the Federal 42 Subsistence Board is grateful to all previous, new and 43 present Regional Advisory Council members. And all of 44 us staff at OSM would really like to thank you all, 45 past, present and future Council members and new 46 Council members for your service. 47 48 Thank you.




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1 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. That's 2 pretty awesome. And was that the report and update, I 3 didn't hear any salmons or anything, but, you know. 4 5 Thank you, Robbin LaVine. 6 7 Any questions for Robbin from the 8 Council. 9

10 MR. OOMITTUK: Thank you for your 11 report. 12 13 MS. LaVINE: Thank you all. 14 15 CHAIRMAN BROWER: You get off pretty 16 much scott free now, you know. 17 18 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, we 19 might still have Jarred on teleconference. Jarred 20 Stone is also one of our fisheries biologists. He 21 might have -- it's a very brief update. 22 23 I'm not sure if you're still with us, 24 Jarred? 25 26 MR. STONE: I am. Can you hear me 27 okay? 28 29 MS. PATTON: Yep, you're fine. 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yep, you're -- we can 32 hear you. 33 34 MR. STONE: All right. Good afternoon, 35 Mr. Chair and members of the Council. My name is 36 Jarred Stone, I'm a fisheries biologist with the Office 37 of Subsistence Management. And today I'll just give a 38 real quick and brief update on true problematic areas 39 including the Fisheries Resource Monitoring Program 40 which our staff often refers to as the FRMP. And then 41 I'll give an update on our Partners for Fisheries 42 Management Program which our staff often refers to as 43 the Partners Program. And lastly I'll give an update 44 on the fisheries regulatory cycle. 45 46 There are no action items associated 47 with these programs today so please ask questions and 48 I'll do my best to answer them.




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1 So first we'll start with the fisheries 2 regulatory cycle update. The Federal Subsistence Board 3 will take action on the current regulatory cycle 4 proposals during their April, 2019 public regulatory 5 meeting. The delayed action on these proposals means 6 that revised regulations will not be in place for the 7 standard April 1st start date for the new regulations. 8 In addition there is some concern about the timing for 9 publication of the Board's changes in the Federal

10 Register. As such we anticipate the Board will 11 implement a system of temporary special actions to 12 cover approved changes to the fisheries regulations. 13 These special actions would mirror the Board approved 14 changes and would expire upon publication of the 15 Federal -- I'm sorry, of the final regulations in the 16 Federal Register. 17 18 So that concludes my fishery regulatory 19 cycle update. 20 21 Are there any questions regarding that. 22 23 (No comments) 24 25 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Hearing none, go 26 ahead and proceed. 27 28 MR. STONE: Okay. So moving on to the 29 Partners Program. The Partners for Fisheries 30 Monitoring update. And so the Office of Subsistence 31 Management recently closed a notice of funding 32 opportunity for the Partners for Fisheries Program. 33 And this is a call that -- the terms lasts from 2020 34 all the way out until 2023. The Partners Program seeks 35 to strengthen Alaska Native and rural involvement in 36 Federal subsistence management by providing funding for 37 biologists, social scientists and educator positions in 38 Alaska Native and rural nonprofit organizations with 39 the intent of increasing the organization's ability to 40 participate in Federal subsistence management. 41 42 A total of 14 proposals were received 43 from perspective partners. The Review Committee has 44 met to evaluate the proposals and notifications will be 45 sent out soon. 46 47 This concludes my Partners update. 48 49 Are there any questions about that.




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1 (No comments) 2 3 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Hearing none, go 4 ahead and proceed. 5 6 MR. STONE: Okay. Moving along. So 7 lastly we'll go over the Fisheries Resource Monitoring 8 Program. Again this is often referred to as the FRMP. 9 And the 2020 notice of funding opportunity closed back

10 on March 15th. And for the 2020 funding cycle it's 11 anticipated that there'll be roughly $1.5 million 12 available for the first year of new projects. 13 14 The next step of this process is a 15 review by the Technical Review Committee. The results 16 of that review will be presented to you all at the 17 fall, 2019 RAC meeting. 18 19 This concludes my Fisheries Resource 20 Monitoring Program update as well as the overall 21 Fisheries program updates. 22 23 Do you have any questions about those. 24 25 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Now hold up there. 26 We got something here. Sure. Is this the one where we 27 try to prioritize some of the North Slope things that 28 we wanted to study, something like -- there were a lot 29 of concerns on Teshekpuk Lake, why low catch rates are 30 occurring, the fish mold in Colville River and see what 31 the environmental conditions allow for fish mold to 32 occur on the broad whitefish and why it's not occurring 33 in the neighboring watershed like the Ikpikpuk River 34 where we're not seeing the fish mold. And to do a 35 comparison of the habitat. One of the concerns being 36 that the Colville River watershed delta area has about 37 1,000 wells that are producing from the bottom with a 38 temperature of about 160 degrees, 140 degrees when it 39 comes off the wellhead. And these wells are strewn all 40 over a known existing thaw bulb. And science say that 41 temperature related issues can contribute to fish mold. 42 43 Now think about that for a moment 44 because there's an existing thaw bulb in the Colville 45 River, you know, there's existing thaw bulb. And 46 that's a real issue. And then all of these wells that 47 are horizontal underneath and producing oil at 145 to 48 160 degrees and kind of acts like a little bunsen 49 burner under that thaw bulb maybe. I mean, could that




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1 contribute to what scientists say could be global 2 climate change related temperature variations or is 3 that -- could be caused by manmade thaw bulb 4 temperature rise. Who knows. I mean, I -- these kind 5 of things that we hear about and that compare that to 6 the -- I think Ikpikpuk might have even surpass (in 7 Inupiaq) spawning activity on the North Slope because 8 it's kind of like the mecca of the spawning for broad 9 whitefishes on Ikpikpuk and -- at least that I know of.

10 I mean, it's fed thousands of people for thousands of 11 years. 12 13 Is that what we're talking about in 14 this funding cycle stuff? 15 16 MR. STONE: Mr. Chair and members of 17 the Council. Yes, you're exactly right. So next year 18 likely in the fall or winter meeting we'll come before 19 you again and request what we call the priority 20 information needs. And these priority information 21 needs are really concerns that you may have of the 22 local area that you're from that we can sit down and 23 put down on paper. And essentially those priority 24 information needs or those concerns are really what 25 drives and determines what types of projects would be 26 funded in your area. 27 28 Now that's assuming that researchers 29 would take the time to write the proposal for that 30 project or that concern, but you are exactly right in 31 that these concerns and questions that you brought up 32 today could be formalized as priority information needs 33 and would be likely in the next call which would be the 34 2020 call I believe. 35 36 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you. I just 37 wanted to be clear that was one and the same program. 38 Just be reminded that the Ikpikpuk River delta they 39 announce 6 billion barrel field discovery right there. 40 And it's going to be important to gather that 41 information so that maybe we can look at potential 42 issues that need to be mitigated. 43 44 I don't know if that's the cause and 45 only biologists and scientists have told us that the 46 fish mold is temperature related. It occurs in the 47 Yukon River and some other rivers to the south over the 48 Brooks Range. Fish mold, yeah, it's present. But to 49 the extent that it occurs in the Arctic, I mean, it's




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1 new, about five years new now, you know, and that's 2 about -- could take about 15 years worth of production 3 to warm up a thaw bulb by five degrees or so. Who 4 knows. 5 6 Anyway I'm not an alarmist, but that's 7 what's been reported out of Nuiqsut is the continuing 8 fish mold issues from their fisheries. 9

10 Thanks for the update and we look 11 forward to hearing more about that program. 12 13 Eva, it appears that maybe..... 14 15 MR. STONE: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....we're on item 18 13? 19 20 MS. PATTON: Mr. Chair and Council, 21 yes. Thank you. And so one of the final items to take 22 care of is selecting a fall and winter meeting date. 23 So fall, 2019 and winter, 2020. You'll find on pages 24 47 of your meeting books we have a fall, 2019 calendar 25 and at the last meeting this Council..... 26 27 CHAIRMAN BROWER: What page? 28 29 MS. PATTON: 47. 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Okay. 32 33 MS. PATTON: And this Council had 34 selected October 22nd and 23rd for your fall, 2019 35 meeting cycle. So if you want to check..... 36 37 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Madame 38 Coordinator..... 39 40 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 41 42 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....we haven't been 43 to a village since 2014. I think we should go to a 44 village, you know, I really think so. And I know we 45 went to Anaktuvuk Pass. Wainwright's been kind of 46 derelict in representatives because our representative 47 from Wainwright and continued to represent Wainwright 48 as a Barrow resident for a long period of time. And 49 now he's moved to Montana or somewhere. That's Mr.




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1 Shears. And it might, you know, spark the interest for 2 somebody in Wainwright to submit a name that could be a 3 good representative like Jason Ahmawah or something 4 like that. Who knows. There's some pretty good 5 hunters or there that might be willing to be involved 6 in these things. 7 8 So my -- I'm thinking that we should at 9 least go to a village. It seems like 2014, it's 2019,

10 that's five years, you know. That's a long time and we 11 haven't had the representation from Wainwright and 12 because their representative moved to Barrow like five 13 years ago. And might..... 14 15 MS. PATTON: Yes. Thank..... 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....might be 18 important. 19 20 MS. PATTON: Absolutely. 21 22 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I just..... 23 24 MS. PATTON: Yes, so..... 25 26 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....put it out 27 there, it may be time to go..... 28 29 MS. PATTON: Absolutely 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....to a village. 32 33 MS. PATTON: So we will -- we will -- 34 if that date of October 22nd, 23rd works for the 35 Council and then we'll make the request to meet in 36 Wainwright. Usually we do -- just do a quick, you 37 know, motion to support..... 38 39 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah. 40 41 MS. PATTON: .....the date and 42 location. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Here's another thing 45 real quick. 46 47 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 48 49 CHAIRMAN BROWER: We should be careful,




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1 some of us got to be at Assembly meetings or on a 2 Planning Commission meeting. And I'm always going to 3 have to Chair a Planning Commission meeting. And I 4 take that very seriously because it's -- a 5 representative of every member in the North Slope is on 6 the Planning Commission. So last Thursdays of each 7 month is Planning Commission and then the first Tuesday 8 of each month is the Assembly. So just keep that in 9 mind. I think it's important to recognize some of

10 these things so we don't -- sometimes it's great 11 because Steve will come here for Assembly and then just 12 hop right into one of these meetings right off an 13 Assembly meeting. 14 15 So anybody want to suggest a date for 16 the fall meeting? 17 18 (No comments) 19 20 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Looks like we 21 got..... 22 23 MS. PATTON: Currently the Council had 24 requested that October 22nd and 23rd..... 25 26 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Oh, okay. 27 28 MS. PATTON: .....and we were trying to 29 schedule around the Assembly meeting so I think we 30 squeaked in between your Thursday Planning Commission 31 and in between the first Tuesday. 32 33 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Well, I think the 34 Assembly might be planning a village meeting too. I 35 mean, I think they try to strive for one village 36 meeting a year maybe. I'm not exactly sure and I 37 thought they were talking about Wainwright too maybe. 38 39 MS. PATTON: Oh, really. Oh. And what 40 we can do so if -- if by chance, you know, at a later 41 date there's a meeting that gets scheduled right on top 42 of this, we can try to adjust at that time. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Okay. 45 46 MS. PATTON: We try to plan out as long 47 as possible because people's lives are very busy..... 48 49 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Uh-huh.




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1 MS. PATTON: .....and so you have an 2 opportunity to plan around it. But if there was a big 3 event that got planned over the top of our meeting as 4 we get closer..... 5 6 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Uh-huh. 7 8 MS. PATTON: .....we can try to adjust. 9

10 CHAIRMAN BROWER: So our fall meeting 11 dates could fall between the 19th and September 13, but 12 we opted to think about August 22 and 23? 13 14 MS. PATTON: Yeah. And so we can meet 15 earlier. The Council had opted to kind of alternate 16 between meeting before the fall whaling season and 17 meeting after the fall whaling season. And so Council 18 has selected to meet after..... 19 20 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Okay. 21 22 MS. PATTON: .....because we've met 23 before prior a couple meeting. 24 25 CHAIRMAN BROWER: That makes a lot of 26 sense, yeah. 27 28 MS. PATTON: Uh-huh. 29 30 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Anybody want to make 31 a motion to think about 22 and 23 or somewhere around 32 there? 33 34 MR. OOMITTUK: Sounds good, Mr. Chair. 35 You know, I see due to travel budget limitation placed 36 on the top of Department of Interior. Be cheaper to go 37 to Las Vegas than to go to a village. 38 39 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Let's go to Vegas. 40 We can gamble some Federal money and try to double it, 41 you know. Double on red. 42 43 August 22, 23. I think I heard a 44 motion for that. 45 46 MS. PATTON: October 22, 23? 47 48 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Oh, yeah. 49




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1 MS. PATTON: October 22, 23. 2 3 CHAIRMAN BROWER: What did I say? 4 5 MS. PATTON: October 22, 23. You said 6 August. I think the Council was looking at that 7 October 23 -- 22, 23 date. 8 9 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Oh. Okay. Just

10 remember sometimes that day is AFN days too. 11 12 MS. PATTON: AFN is actually -- because 13 we do map that out because most of our Council members 14 do participate at well as the communities, that's 15 October 17, 18 and 19 this fall. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Uh-huh. 18 19 MS. PATTON: So we're just squeaking on 20 the other side of that. 21 22 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. Yeah, I 23 think that's a pretty good date because, you know, 24 sometimes I stay at my fish camp and get frozen in and 25 try to go home sometime around October 18 or 20. If 26 I'm going to ski doo home or something which I did one 27 time. And let my brother meet me at oppie camp. That 28 was an adventure all right. 29 30 Yeah, October 22 and 23, is that what 31 we want? 32 33 MS. KIPPI: Are you looking for a 34 second. 35 36 MR. HOPSON: Mr. Chair. 37 38 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Go ahead. 39 40 MR. HOPSON: I think somebody made a 41 motion. I'll second the motion to for us meeting 42 October 22 and 23. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: There's a motion on 45 the floor for a fall meeting to be October 22 and 23. 46 47 MR. REICH: Call for question. 48 49 CHAIRMAN BROWER: The question's been




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CHAIRMAN BROWER: So the rough date is



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1 called for. All those in favor of selecting October 22 2 and 23 signify by saying aye. 3 4 IN UNISON: Aye. 5 6 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All those opposed say 7 nay. 8 9 (No opposing votes)

10 11 CHAIRMAN BROWER: The ayes have it. 12 October 22 and 23. 13 14 MS. KIPPI: And this is looking for -- 15 to be dated or meeting in Wainwright hopefully. 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I think we're looking 18 to say let's go to Wainwright. 19 20 MS. KIPPI: Okay. Just wanted to make 21 sure. Thank you. 22 23 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Better find us money, 24 Eva. 25 26 MS. PATTON: I will try. So we always 27 submit the Council's request and I do a budget analysis 28 and make a very strong request for the need to address 29 those communities' subsistence. 30 31 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I just find that the 32 last time we went to a village it was pretty profound. 33 That some of the people that had an opportunity to 34 address the Council, they went in person, dressed nice 35 and then had some very startling public comments come 36 out of those villages. And it's important to do that 37 once in a while. 38 39 So we got a fall meeting and we're 40 going to go to Wainwright. Be there or be square. 41 42 MS. PATTON: All right. And then, Mr. 43 Chair and Council, next is winter, 2020 meeting. And 44 we know that's a long ways away, but we try to find a 45 date that works well for people's subsistence 46 activities. And so select at least a rough date this 47 time and then we'll reconfirm it at the fall meeting.




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CHAIRMAN BROWER: Well, we got those



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1 between February 3 and March 13? 2 3 MS. PATTON: Correct. And there's just 4 two weeks out of that time frame that are already full. 5 So the other Councils that have already met, the week 6 of February 10th and the week of March 2nd are booked 7 up with other Council meetings. So we've got, three, 8 four weeks, the week of March 3rd, the week of February 9 17th, the week of February 24th and the week of March

10 9th that are all open for this Council. 11 12 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Anybody want to make 13 a suggestion for our winter meeting, 2020? 14 15 (No comments) 16 17 CHAIRMAN BROWER: How about February 19 18 and 20 as a rough date, you know. Just kind of like 19 mark it, you know. 20 21 MS. PATTON: That falls in between the 22 Assembly meeting and the Planning meeting too so 23 that's..... 24 25 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Yeah, I'm just trying 26 to stay..... 27 28 MS. PATTON: .....probably a good week. 29 30 CHAIRMAN BROWER: .....in the middle 31 there. But, you know, and we can reconfirm that in the 32 fall meeting. At least we got a rough date. 33 34 All right. Rough date, 19, 20? 35 36 (No comments) 37 38 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Since we don't really 39 know we don't have to do that by motion, right? 40 41 MS. PATTON: As long as the whole 42 Council concurs and then we'll revisit at the fall 43 meeting to firm up that date. 44 45 CHAIRMAN BROWER: All right. Awesome. 46 47 MS. PATTON: Okay. Well, thank you.




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all. I'm very humbled to be on the Committee, to serve



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1 two covered. And closing comments. I'm going to 2 extend closing comments starting from Point Hope. Say 3 anything you want. 4 5 MR. OOMITTUK: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 6 Thank you, everybody, for coming and giving us your 7 reports. And safe travels. And, you know, for us 8 hunger knows no law. 9

10 Thank you. 11 12 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Utqiagvik, William 13 Hopson. 14 15 MR. HOPSON: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 16 Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here. I 17 want to say to you folks, researchers, biologists, 18 doctors. I respect all of the work you do up here for 19 fish and wildlife. It benefits both sides, we just 20 need to align each other so we got one goal. And thank 21 you for working so hard. And some days we don't see 22 each other, but we're going to make it work no matter 23 what. We face each other, we'll make it work somehow, 24 we'll hammer it out. And thank you for giving me the 25 opportunity to be here. 26 27 Thank you. 28 29 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, William. 30 31 Atqasuk, Wanda. 32 33 MS. KIPPI: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I 34 wanted -- I just want to say thank you all for being 35 here and all the input you guys had brought forth to 36 us. And I want to thank our Council for doing a great 37 job. I thank you all for coming and I'm happy to be 38 here and try and do my best for our village and our 39 outlying villages when they're not here. And I just 40 want to thank everybody. Thank you, uncle, for coming. 41 42 Thank you. 43 44 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Wanda. 45 46 Tad, Utqiagvik. 47 48 MR. REICH: Yes. Thank you. Thank you




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1 our region, our communities. And I just want to thank 2 everybody for coming. And our migration has start -- 3 has begun so we will be doing a lot of hunting here 4 real shortly. 5 6 So with that being said, thank you all. 7 8 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Thank you, Tad. 9

10 I'm going to go all the way to the far 11 reaches of Kaktovik to Eddie Rexford. 12 13 MR. REXFORD: I'd like to thank you 14 folks for coming also and it's been a good learning 15 experience joining this group. And I'm here to help 16 represent our community and Fish and Wildlife Service 17 we're trying to work together and hopefully we'll come 18 up to a good working relationship. And that's the way 19 I see it. There's got to be communication both ways 20 and I'm glad I made it here. 21 22 Thank you. 23 24 CHAIRMAN BROWER: I would have extended 25 to Martha, but she's dealing with the emergency I 26 suppose. 27 28 So as the Chair, you know, sometimes I 29 come across like I'm extra passionate about the needs 30 that need to be met. And I get defensive. And I'm 31 humbled at the representation for our communities. I 32 -- this Council should represent all the communities in 33 that sense. 34 35 The other things I want to convey is 36 don't work in a bubble. Don't work in a bubble of your 37 own bureaucracy. There's a home rule borough with laws 38 and ordinances that the State is required by Alaska 39 statutes to comply with. The last five -- seven years 40 we've been working diligently on the North Slope to 41 develop comprehensive plans. The visioning of our 42 communities. That includes subsistence. Remember the 43 area of influence for communities. My law say you 44 should give deference to the concerns and issues to 45 those communities within their area of influence 46 including fish and wildlife issues, subsistence 47 activities, the needs. Those are adopted as laws and 48 ordinances within the Borough and they extend by Alaska 49 statute that say the Departments of the State shall




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1 follow these laws and ordinances. To the extent that 2 it applies to Federal land, they apply until the 3 President of the United States says they don't. And 4 you better find me some language that says they don't 5 apply. 6 7 We've had lots of opportunity to work 8 on Federal public lands in permitting, enforcement. 9 Some of the largest fines on the North Slope are on

10 State and Federal lands. Tundra damage, non-adherence 11 to stipulations. Some of them $1,500,000 in fines, one 12 single fine. It's important for us. I often say these 13 things and I don't know if it goes in one ear and comes 14 out the other. When you have to look at the cries of -- 15 did the State put all these guides in front of the 16 herd indiscriminately and divert large scale movement 17 of migratory animals where they should be coming for 18 reasonable availability where they're normally found 19 for the subsistence user in their area of influence. 20 That's a policy of the Borough. You're supposed to 21 read that in part of your planning. 22 23 All of our plans are on the web. You 24 don't have to call me and say where is it, where can I 25 find it. Go to the North Slope Borough website you'll 26 find the village plans. They're important. They're 27 important. 28 29 We want to work with you and we want to 30 make sure a lot of the issues out there that we can 31 work together to -- like food security issues. The 32 depletion of subsistence resources. Remember you can 33 deplete a subsistence resource in a liberal management 34 scheme, in a liberal management regime. You can still 35 deplete the subsistence resource where they're normally 36 found for subsistence by diverting them. We've made 37 those kind of cases already. Probably held -- they'll 38 hold up in a court of law, a preponderance of the 39 evidence that the subsistence users depend on this 40 resource. Language like that exists. And there's a 41 preponderance of the evidence that Anaktuvuk is 42 depending on these Western Arctic herd to migrate and 43 grace the village. 44 45 Those are my last closing comments. 46 I've been heavily involved in developing comprehensive 47 plan with the full intent of slamming the books down 48 and say hey, read them, work with everybody, be part of 49 the program, quit trying to allocate for resources and




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1 limited hunts to Fairbanks and Anchorage when people 2 are going hungry in the villages. Don't pass on an 3 argument, promote the traditional lifestyle. That's 4 what it amounts to. If you put guides and the nonrural 5 residents all in an area where the village is expecting 6 that migration to come across and grace that village 7 and it suddenly doesn't. I've seen these radio 8 collared information when the community is crying and 9 then say where'd the caribou go and then the radio

10 collar shows it's coming down by Killik River, in 11 between Killik and Colville. And then they stop, 12 literally stop. These radio collared stop and turn 13 around. And then go through a different pass. Like 14 oh, did they see something, what happened. Or was it a 15 wall of hunters, of fly-in hunters and stuff. 16 17 Anyway I'm just saying in my closing 18 comments we need to work together, listen to each 19 other, look at -- look at the communities' plans too, 20 they're for the Feds, they're for the industry, they're 21 for the State, they're for the Borough, they're for the 22 community. These are their plans. 23 24 And I am very grateful for you all to 25 come and work and do your work and present it to 26 everybody. Don't get me wrong one bit. I appreciate 27 all of you and it's important work. I think it's 28 important work. 29 30 Thank you very much. 31 32 That's my closing comments. 33 34 Item 15. 35 36 MR. OOMITTUK: So moved. 37 38 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Motion on the floor 39 to adjourn. 40 41 MS. KIPPI: Second. 42 43 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Seconded. All those 44 in favor of adjourning signify by saying aye. 45 46 IN UNISON: Aye. 47 48 CHAIRMAN BROWER: Opposed same sign.




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1 (No opposing votes) 2 3 CHAIRMAN BROWER: We are adjourned. 4 5 (In Inupiaq) 6 7 (Off record) 8 9 (END OF PROCEEDINGS)

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1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ) 4 )ss. 5 STATE OF ALASKA ) 6 7 I, Salena A. Hile, Notary Public in and for the 8 state of Alaska and reporter for Computer Matrix Court 9 Reporters, LLC, do hereby certify:

10 11 THAT the foregoing pages numbered through 12 contain a full, true and correct Transcript of the 13 NORTH SLOPE FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE REGIONAL ADVISORY 14 COUNCIL MEETING, VOLUME II taken electronically on the 15 4th day of April in Utqiagvik, Alaska; 16 17 THAT the transcript is a true and 18 correct transcript requested to be transcribed and 19 thereafter transcribed by under my direction and 20 reduced to print to the best of our knowledge and 21 ability; 22 23 THAT I am not an employee, attorney, or 24 party interested in any way in this action. 25 26 DATED at Anchorage, Alaska, this 27th 27 day of April 2019. 28 29 30 31 Salena A. Hile 32 Notary Public, State of Alaska 33 My Commission Expires: 09/16/22 34 35 36 37


Documents

NORTH SLOPE FEDERAL SUBSISTENCE REGIONAL ADVISORY …35 36 MR. EVANS: Thank you, Mr. Chair, 37 members of the Council. So last night I drafted a -- 38 based on the comments that you